[2] It is endemic to the U.S. state of California, where it is known from a few occurrences in the vicinity of Crystal Springs Reservoir on the San Francisco Peninsula and southward to serpentine soil in Woodside.

The flower head is lined with tiny lance-shaped phyllaries with purplish pointed tips and sometimes a coat of woolly fibers.

The fruit is an achene with a very hairy hard body 2 or 3 millimeters long and a small, bristly pappus on top.

Plants are able to grow without any rainfall or any moisture in the ground around their roots, surviving by absorbing dewfall at night through their leaves.

[5] Even though these plants live in serpentine soil which is known to be low in nutrients, however, these plants still require a minimum threshold of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc, manganese, iron and boron and a narrow range of pH for their seedling's survival and to grow to adults and reproduce.