[2] This perennial herb produces erect stems from a woody caudex and deep root system.

[2][3] This plant grows in many types of habitat, including forests, woodlands, chaparral, shrubsteppe, sagebrush, and grasslands.

Plants associated with it include Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii), common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), ninebark (Physocarpus malvaceus), serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.

), arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata), western yarrow (Achillea millefolium), heartleaf arnica (Arnica cordifolia), bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda), fescues (Festuca idahoensis and F. scabrella), prairie junegrass (Koeleria cristata), and sedges (Carex spp.).

It contains teratogenic chemical compounds that may cause birth defects in a calf if the plant is eaten by its mother during the early part of the gestation period.