It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Baja California to New Mexico, where it is common and can be found in several types of habitat.

It grows 30 centimeters to over two meters in height, in texture hairy to nearly hairless.

Each palmate leaf is made up of several leaflets, those on larger plants up to 10 centimeters long.

barbatus, is endemic to the Modoc Plateau of northeastern California and adjacent territory in Oregon and Nevada.

The subtaxon dudleyi is known only from the San Francisco Bay Area.