Its common names include shorthorn steer's head and few-flowered bleeding-heart.

This perennial wildflower is native to the US states of Oregon and California, where it grows high in the mountains in gravelly soils.

It also erects a thin stem which is topped with an inflorescence of one to three nodding flowers.

Each flower is a shade of pink or purple to white, with two curving outer petals flexed back against the flower, and inner petals extended straight outward.

The specific epithet pauciflora, refers to the Latin term for 'few flowered'.