Perennials; (matted); caudex branched (with persistent leaf remains, branches slender, prostrate, sometimes terminating in sterile rosettes); not scapose. Stems usually unbranched, (0.5-) 1-2.4(-3) dm, pubescent throughout, trichomes short-stalked, subdendritic, 4-12- rayed, 0.05-0.2 mm. Basal leaves rosulate; petiole (obscure), usually not ciliate, rarely pubescent proximally, (trichomes simple or spurred, to 0.25 mm); blade obovate to narrowly oblanceolate, 0.5-1.3(-2.5) cm × (1-)2-4(-7) mm, margins usually entire, rarely denticulate, surfaces pubescent with short-stalked, subdendritic, 5-12-rayed trichomes, 0.05-0.3 mm. Cauline leaves (2 or) 3-8; sessile; blade oblong to lanceolate, margins usually entire, rarely denticulate, surfaces pubescent as basal, or, rarely, adaxially with long-stalked, 2-5-rayed trichomes. Racemes 12-28-flowered, ebracteate, elongated in fruit; rachis not flexuous, pubescent as stem. Fruiting pedicels divaricate, straight, (3-)5-10(-13) mm, pubescent as stem. Flowers: sepals ovate, 2-2.5 mm, pubescent; petals white, spatulate, 4-6 × 2-3 mm; anthers ovate, 0.5-0.6 mm. Fruits ovate-lanceolate, twisted, flattened, 5-9 × 2-3 mm; valves pubescent, trichomes simple and short-stalked, 2-4-rayed, 0.05-0.2 mm; ovules 16-20 per ovary; style (0.7-)1-2(-2.3) mm. Seeds oblong, 0.8-1.2 × 0.5-0.7 mm. 2n = 32.

Flowering May-Jul. Igneous outcrops and rocky slopes in mixed conifer, mountain shrub, and (rarely) sagebrush communities; of conservation concern; 2300-3700 m; Colo.

Draba smithii is a distinctive species known only from Archuleta, Las Animas, and Mineral counties in southern Colorado.