The plant is endemic to California, where it is known only from a northern section of the Sierra Nevada in El Dorado County.

It grows at elevations from 900–2,100 metres (3,000–6,900 ft), in forests, meadows, and on rocky slopes.

[1][2] Phacelia stebbinsii is an annual herb producing a mostly unbranched stem 10 to 40 centimeters tall.

The hairy inflorescence is a one-sided curving or coiling cyme of bell-shaped flowers.

Each flower is around half a centimeter long and white to light blue in color with protruding stamens.