Small annual herb branching from the base, with few erect or ascending branches, 10–30 cm tall. Leaves are 1–3-pinnately dissected into narrow, filiform lobes. Heads are small and white at flowering (about 6 mm across), radiate, with ray and disc florets turning reddish when dry. At fruiting, the heads become enlarged, reaching 12–15 mm across, with a woolly mass of hairs surrounding the achenes and only the tips of the disc florets visible. Fruits are obovoid achenes, about 3.5 mm long, tapering at the base and enclosed in a dense, wavy covering of white hairs.