Pearly everlasting is a common, somewhat weedy, perennial herb with unbranched, leafy, white-wooly stems reaching 20-100 cm tall. The leaves are alternate, long and narrowly pointed, greenish above and white-wooly below. The heads are small with yellow disk flowers only; the involucral bracts are dry and whitish and can be mistaken for ray flowers. The heads are aggregated in dense flat-topped clusters. Pearly everlasting grows in open forest, clearings, fields, and roadsides throughout western Washington at low to subalpine elevations.