It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in many types of desert and mountain habitat, including sandy flats, chaparral, scrub, and woodlands.

It is a shrub growing erect and somewhat rounded in form, reaching around 80 centimeters in maximum height.

The leaves are narrow, linear in shape, with edges rolled upward nearly into a tube.

The long inflorescence bears funnel-shaped lavender, pink, or pale blue-purple flowers up to 1.5 centimeters in length.

[1] In Baja California they are found in Sierra de Juárez northwards to Sierra de San Pedro Mártir, across the border to the Little San Bernardino Mountains of California and Providence Mountains.