This annual wildflower is native to the western United States where it is most common in desert scrub and plateau habitats.

The erect stem can be branched[3] and has widely spaced leaves all the way along, each leaf made up of three to five[3] leaflets, which are smaller closer to the top of the plant.

[3] Each flower has four narrow sepals and four oblong petals around a cluster of six long stamens[3] tipped with knobby anthers.

As the inflorescence lengthens at the top of the stem, flowers that have opened and been pollinated drop their petals and the ovary develops into a fruit.

Some Plateau Indian tribes drank an infusion from the branch and flowers of the yellow bee plant as a treatment for the common cold.