The plant has two varieties: Amsinckia menziesii var.

Like other members of the genus, it has a terminal flowering whorl somewhat shaped like the head of a violin or fiddle, hence the name fiddleneck.

In Australia, the species has become a common weed of cultivated areas in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

[1] In the British Isles, it is an introduced species naturalised particularly in the east of the country and recorded in the wild since 1910.

[2][3] Its seeds, while inedible to humans due to their high pyrrolizidine alkaloid content, are the favorite food of Lawrence's goldfinch during that Californian bird's nesting season of spring and early summer.