It is native to western North America, where it is mostly found in the forests, woodlands, and chaparral of California.

This is a perennial pea vine which varies in appearance across subspecies.

Leaves are made up of several leaflets of various shapes up to 4 or 5 centimeters long.

The leaves usually bear coiling tendrils and the stipules may be large or small.

The inflorescence is a showy array of up to 15 pea flowers, sometimes densely packed together, and usually some shade of bright violet, light to medium purple, or white.