[3] It is endemic to a small area of the Modoc Plateau and Warner Mountains in northeastern California and northwestern Nevada.

Associated species include: Juncus balticus, Scirpus maritimus, Scirpus acutus, Triglochin maritima, Distichlis spicata, Sisyrinchium halophilum, Nitrophila occidentalis, Carex spp., Pyrrocoma racemosa, Solidago spectabilis, Sphaeromeria potentilloides, Astragalus argophyllus, Lotus purshianus, Ericameria nauseosa, and Sarcobatus vermiculatus.

[4] Potentilla basaltica is a perennial herb grows from a thick taproot and has a base covered in the remnants of previous seasons' leaves.

The Bureau of Land Management has enacted conservation measures such as fencing populations to exclude grazing animals and closing roads in vulnerable habitat.

[6] Current threats include changes in local hydrology and the invasion of noxious weeds, such as Lepidium latifolium.