The widely triangular bell-shaped white flowers have purple streaks or spots.

It bears bright red shiny berries 3–6 millimetres (0.12–0.24 in) in diameter, and oblong seeds.

californicum is a member of the chaparral ecosystem and other plant communities of the direct coastline from Santa Barbara County south into Baja California, below 150 metres (490 ft) altitude.

It is most plentiful in the ecotone between salt marshes-estuaries and the coastal sage scrub plant community.

The destruction of this specific ecotone in this highly developed region has led to a reduction in the population of this plant there.