[2] Endemic to California, this species grows wild only on the northern Channel Islands, where it is found in open rocky places and north-facing slopes.

[3] This species typically grows from an often solitary basal rosette up to half a meter wide atop a thick, hardy caudex that is swollen at the base.

The species was described in 1903 with Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose's taxonomic revision of North American Crassulaceae, as part of the creation of the genus Dudleya.

[4] Phylogenetic analysis has shown that it is instead related to Dudleya acuminata, a geographically distant plant that shares the trait of shiny green leaves.

It occurs on rocky, north-facing slopes below 1,200 ft.[9] In 2020, social media posts indicated that numerous plants were poached from California and destined for South Korea.