It is native to the western United States from Montana to California, where it lives at high elevation in alpine and subalpine plant communities.

This is a small perennial milkvetch which forms a small patch of short silvery-green stems on rocky ground.

The leaves may be up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long and are made up of several hairy leaflets.

The inflorescence is a head of four to nine pale purple flowers, each just under 1 cm (0.39 in) long.

The fruit is a bladdery legume pod which can exceed 3 cm (1.2 in) long.