Description: Perennial herb, 5 - 15 cm (2 - 6 in.) tall, strongly scented, with a slender woody rootstock. Stems one to many, simple or branched. Leaves linear, almost round in cross section, covered with conspicuous oil glands. Inflorescence terminal, with solitary discoid flower heads, 8 - 11 mm (0.43 in.). Phyllaries (bracts) 5-8, much longer than broad, and studded with oil glands. Ray florets absent; disk florets 25 - 75, pale yellow, often greenish or reddish tinged. Fruit an achene, narrowly cylindrical, 7 - 8 mm (0.3 in.) long, with 60 pappus bristles. Time of flowering: late April to May.
Habitat: Dry, open, relatively deep rocky limestone soils of alluvial fans and hillsides, often in slight depressions and other moisture-enhanced microsites, in blackbrush and mixed shrub communities. Elevations: 1,280 - 2,073 m (4,200 - 6,800 ft).
Range: Nevada endemic. Known to occur between Sheep and Desert ranges, in Clark and Nye counties, Nevada.
Comments: Distinguished from P. gracile by its smaller stature (15 cm tall versus 40 cm [15.7 in.]), and its smaller flower heads.