Its leaves are pinnately-divided, glabrous and tend to thin at the top of the plant where numerous 25–40 mm (1–1+1⁄2 in) flower heads sit atop slender stems.

The small, slender seeds germinate in fall (overwintering as a low rosette) or early spring.

[4][5][1] The species is widely grown residentially and commercially, and has become naturalized in China,[6] and has been recorded as introduced into much of Europe, parts of Asia, and in Mozambique.

Coreopsis tinctoria serves as a larval host plant for various insects, such as Synchlora aerata, Tornos scolopacinarius and Calligrapha californica.

[9] Coreopsis tinctoria was first formally named and described by Thomas Nuttall in 1821 in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

[16] Though plains coreopsis is often described as an annual some plants will behave more like biannuals growing larger and blooming more in their second year.