Chaenactis glabriuscula is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name yellow pincushion. It is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in a wide variety of habitats. It is a variable plant, especially across varieties, of which there are many. In general this is an annual herb producing one or more mainly erect stems approaching half a meter in maximum height.

The branching stems are hairy and often cobwebby with fibers. The leaves are up to about 10 centimeters long, sometimes fleshy, and usually divided into many very small, curling lobes. The inflorescence produces one to many flower heads on a very long, erect peduncle. The flower head is lined with flat, hairy or woolly glandular phyllaries.

It contains many tubular flowers in shades of gold to bright yellow, the outermost flowers large and flat-faced, most with protruding anthers. The fruit is an achene which may be over a centimeter long including its layered pappus of scales.

One variety, var. orcuttiana, is a rare variety limited to the beaches and coastal dunes of southern California and Baja, where it is threatened by development of its coastal habitat.