The plant is a perennial herb with clustered or spreading prostrate stems growing from a taproot.

The flower has a cuplike, toothed calyx of sepals coated in black hairs.

[4] The native habitat of the plant is a seasonally wet floodplain with alkali soils, part of the Klamath Basin.

[1] The largest of the three populations is on land which is partially owned and protected by The Nature Conservancy, but the other part is vulnerable to development.

[2] There was once a fourth population, but it was destroyed when its habitat was made into a grocery store and a car dealership.