The plant is endemic to California, where it is known from three counties north of the San Francisco Bay Area.

There are probably fewer than ten occurrences in Lake, Mendocino, and Sonoma Counties.

[1] It is threatened by the destruction and degradation of its rare wetland habitat, and it may be extinct by 2025.

[1] Lasthenia burkei is an erect annual herb producing hairy stems with sparse linear or deeply divided, narrow, pointed leaves a few centimeters long.

Atop the stem is an inflorescence, which is a flower head with a base of hairy phyllaries.