It grows on the slopes of the California Coast Ranges in common local habitat such as chaparral.

The plant is hairy in texture and varies in color from grayish green to reddish or brown.

The flower heads appear singly at the tips of stem branches, each lined with purplish, glandular phyllaries.

These disc florets are usually yellow, but some plants bear white or pink colouration in certain populations.

The corolla is generally yellow in most of the disc florets, one diagnostic separating other white and pink species such as L. nemaclada, but some outer florets may have a corolla that is dark purple, especially in white or pink flowering specimens.