It is an edible, fleshy, herbaceous, annual plant native to the western mountain and coastal regions of North America.

Mature plants form a rosette; they have numerous erect to spreading stems that branch from the base.

[16] The entire plant is edible, except the roots, and it provides vitamin C.[17] Most commonly, it is eaten raw in salads, but it is not quite as delicate as cultivated lettuce.

Caution should be used because wild C. perfoliata can sometimes accumulate toxic amounts of sodium oxalate (as can happen in spinach).

[18] The plant is known as palsingat or, possibly, lahchumeek in Ivilyuat and it was eaten fresh or boiled as a green by the Ivilyuqaletem (Cahuilla) people of Southern California.