It is endemic to California in the United States, where it occurs in the forests and woodlands of the southern Sierra Nevada.

[1] The plant is an annual herb up to 50 centimeters tall with a hairy, branching stem.

The lance-shaped or oblong leaves are up to 3.5centimeters long and have bristly undersides.

The inflorescence is a coiled cyme of flowers that uncoils as the fruits develop.

The flowers have corollas less than half a centimeter wide and hairy, bristly sepals.