There are different variations within this species. The leaves of this variety can be whitish to grayish green to green in color. The plants are typically more than 3 dm tall, though can be found around 2 dm or shorter when the plant is grown on harsh substrates and may only form a dwarfed version of the variety [2]. Other varieties of the species vary in height and some may have a yellow tint of color in the branches rather than grayish green. Variety speciosa has leaves that are commonly 0.5-1.5 mm wide, where other varieties can be as wide as 3 mm. The species is taxonomically complex, and is divided into two subspecies with 22 varieties orecotypes [3] mostly based on the geographical area where the plants are found. Variety speciosa is found in saltgrass, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, and ponderosa pine communities at 1310-2290 m in many counties across the state of Utah [2].There are differences in chemical composition between the varieties [3] but can all be identified as the species E. nauseosa.

Ericameria nauseosa can be confused with Gutierrezia sarothrae (snakeweed). Both are similar in having composite yellow flowers, but snakeweed tends to be a smaller plant with shorter leaves and shorter inflorescences; both measure to be less than 1 cm in length. Gutierrezia sarothrae also differs by having vibrant green herbage (rather than gray-green and tomentose in E. nauseosa) [4].