Baileya pleniradiata is an annual herb producing a light gray-green to nearly white woolly branching stem up to half a meter in height. The leaves are up to 8 centimeters long and may split into a few lobes.[5]
Each inflorescence is composed of a single flower head which is borne on a peduncle up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) long. The flower head has a center of yellow disc florets surrounded by a fringe of ray florets, sometimes in two or more layers, each bright yellow and up to a centimeter in length. The fruit is a sharply angled achene a few millimeters long.[5]