It is endemic to southern California, where it is known from a few occurrences in San Diego and Riverside Counties.

[1] It is a native of the fire-prone California chaparral plant community, where it grows in gabbro rock outcrops.

Packera ganderi is a perennial herb producing a single upright stem which grows to a maximum height of 50 to 80 centimeters.

The leaves have rounded or oval blades with toothed edges or shallow lobes.

The blades are often thick and somewhat tough, measuring a few centimeters long and borne on petioles longer than themselves.