Harmonia nutans is an annual herb producing a bristly, glandular stem up to about 25 centimeters tall.

The inflorescence produces one or more flower heads which bend and nod as they bloom and especially as the fruit develops.

The fruit is an achene a few millimeters long; those developing from the disc florets are tipped with pappi.

Harmonia nutans is endemic to California, where it is limited to the Coast Ranges in the San Francisco Bay Area and slopes to the north.

[1] It grows in common mountain habitat such as chaparral and woodland, often on volcanic soils.