General:
Low slender annual herb from a taproot, short- to long-hairy, at least in the inflorescence, often also finely glandular; stems widely branched, usually from near the base, nearly smooth, tending to be wider than tall, 2-10 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves threadlike, few, smooth, entire; stem leaves pinnatifid, the lobes threadlike, abruptly pointed, seldom 2.5 cm long.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of flowers borne in dense, leafy-bracteate heads terminating the stem and branches, the lateral branches arising just beneath, or even within, the head and again producing terminal heads which may have associated branches; corollas regular, white to pale pink or lavender, 3.5-5 mm long, the lobes less than 1 mm long, the petal traces 3-veined well down into the tubes; calyces 5-10 mm long, generally surpassing the corolla, 2 or 3 of the lobes evidently longer than the others; bracts foliaceous with firm-papery bases, palmatifid or subpalmatifid; filaments very short, up to about 0.3 mm long, subequally inserted less than 1 mm below the sinuses; stigmas 3, often 2 of them partly fused.
Fruits:
Capsules, regularly dehiscent, usually from the base upward, by 3 valves, but commonly only 2-locular by complete failure of one of the partitions, the odd valve narrower than the others.
Notes:
The first collection of this species was made in 2000 at Anarchist Mountain (Douglas et al. 2002).