It is endemic to California, where it is known only from two disjunct populations in the Gabilan Range on the border between Monterey and San Benito Counties.

The plant is considered vulnerable because it is rare, with one population containing about 30 individuals and the other spanning about 1000 hectares but widely spaced.

It is coated in medium or dark red bark, the small twigs with fuzzy hairs.

The blades are oval and auriculate (with an earlobe-shaped lobe on either side of the petiole).

[1] The inflorescence is a panicle of white or pink conical or urn-shaped flowers each 6 to 8 centimeters long.