Perennial from a much-branched caudex. Stems simple or branched, ascending to erect, 20–70 cm, glabrous or glandular. Leaves cauline, petiolate, aromatic; blades glabrous above, tomentose beneath, 5–25 mm long, obovate, twice divided; ultimate segments linear-lanceolate, up to 1 mm wide. Inflorescence narrow, racemose; heads erect. Involucre hemispheric, 2.5–3.5 mm high; phyllaries green to brown, glabrous to glandular; receptacle glabrous. Disk flowers 25 to 50, perfect and female, glandular; corolla 1.5–2 mm long; yellow to red. Achenes glabrous, ca. 0.5 mm long (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).