Clumps of densely woolly flower stems 5–12-inches tall grow directly from a dense basal cluster of dark-green leaves. Note the flower stems (peduncles) are often clustered, leafless, with upper branches, and usually have small, reddish bractlets beneath the flower heads.

FLOWER: June–August. Loose clusters of 1–8 bell-shaped flower heads with 8–13 yellow rays, sometimes zero, each 3/16–3/8-inch long (4–10 mm); disk flowers yellow; 13 or 21 phyllaries, red tipped, woolly to hairless; usually conspicuous tiny, often reddish, bractlets underneath flower head.

LEAVES: Basal rosette, stem with only rudimentary, scale-like leaves. Basal leaves with and without petioles (stalks), woolly becoming hairless with age; blades narrowly lance-shaped to elliptic with a tapering base, or oval in timberline populations, 5/8–1 5/8-inches long (15–40 mm); margins (edges) entire or wavy, or with teeth toward the tip.

HABITAT: Sandy, rocky, loamy soils, slopes, open woods, talus slopes above treeline; pinyon-juniper, pine-oak, ponderosa-Douglas fir, spruce-fir  forests, alpine slopes.

ELEVATION: 7,000–12,500 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, ID, NM, NV, UT, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Two varieties in NM: var. werneriifolia, usually below timberline, has entire blades that taper to the base; var. alpina, usually above timberline, has oval to rounded blades. These variations are not generally accepted as valid taxonomic varieties and need more study.

NM COUNTIES: In mountains of NM in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Catron, Cibola, Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Taos.