It is native to the western United States, in California, Nevada, Utah, and Oregon.

It often carpets large areas of meadow and hillside with blue-green foliage and sweet-scented bluebell blooms.

[1] Mertensia ciliata is a perennial herb producing a cluster of erect stems from a thick, branching caudex.

The inflorescence is an open array of many clustered blue bell-shaped flowers each between 1 and 2 centimeters long.

[2] The flowers bear poricidal anthers and are fertilized via buzz-pollination by several Bombus species.