It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the high plateau below along the western border of Inyo County.

[1] This is a perennial herb growing an erect inflorescence from a mat of silvery, woolly-haired herbage, reaching maximum heights over half a meter.

Each palmate leaf is made up of 6 to 9 leaflets up to 7.5 centimeters long.

The fruit is a silky-haired legume pod containing black-mottled white seeds.

John J. Crowley, then unknowingly described again in 1969 by Philip A. Munz and David B. Dunn (Munz & Dunn) as Lupinus dedeckerae, honoring plant collector Mary DeDecker; the mix-up was sorted in the 1970s, with the original Lupinus padre-crowleyi (Father Crowley's lupine) confirmed as the true official name, while Lupinus dedeckerae is credited as a later synonym.