This small wildflower, endemic to western slopes of the outer coastal range along the Pacific Ocean coast, produces bright yellow blossoms through spring and summer.

These designations have led to blueprints for protection of Hickman's potentilla in the form of official endangerment classifications and a species recovery plan, the latter promulgated by the U.S.

Another population in San Mateo County was discovered in 1995 on the south slopes above Martini Creek (USGS quad reference Montara Mountain 3712254), on private land by biologists conducting surveys for the Devil's Slide highway project.

The peninsula is influenced by a marine climate that is pronounced due to the upwelling of cool water from the Monterey submarine canyon.

Rainfall is 40 to 50 cm per year, but summer fog drip is a primary source of moisture for plants that would otherwise not be able to persist with such low precipitation.

Some taxa, such as the coastal closed-cone pines and cypresses are relict stands, e.g. species that once extended more widely in the mesic climate of the late Pleistocene period, but then retreated to small pockets of cooler and wetter conditions along the coast ranges during the hotter, drier early Holocene period between 6000 and 2000 BC.

Eastwood, curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco was a pioneer biologist in exploring this remote area.

P. hickmanii continues to be pressured by urban development, especially on the Monterey Peninsula, with chief elements of golf courses and housing to support the expanding human population.

These pressures are partially mitigated by species protection and recovery plans, the latter of which are recognized by the county, local cities, Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, and the state of California.

The San Mateo County population occurs in small, scattered native-grassland sites on Montara Mountain and are currently threatened with extinction by the encroaching invasive European weed grasses such as Brachypodium, Vulpia, and Holcus species and two species of Briza or rattlesnake grass, which crowd out the plants.

An even more formidable challenge for the future of the San Mateo County populations will be the taller and more aggressive perennial exotic invasive grass, Harding grass (Phalaris), growing 2 m tall and forming a solid stand on the next mountain ridge, only a few hundred meters from the two largest colonies; this nearby infestation has the appearance of a weed-tsunami, engulfing every native plant in its path, and a tiny 5-cm-tall plant does not have a chance without assistance.

[16] Plant counts for each in situ population for this species: San Mateo County, Moss Beach near Point Montara, presumed extinct, last seen in 1933.

Update (2013) on populations in San Mateo County, Montara Mountain, north of town of Montara: Specific consistent counts of this species are difficult due to the low stature, extended flowering period, and difficult terrain, making year-to-year comparisons problematic.