[2] It grows in shallow water on the Pacific coast of North America where it forms part of a biodiverse community in a "kelp forest".

[4] Pterygophora californica is found in the sublittoral zone of the west coast of North America from Vancouver Island, British Columbia south to Bahía Rosario,[5] Baja California, Mexico at depths down to about ten metres.

These produce male and female gametes the fertilisation of which results in zygote formation and the growth of the diploid sporophytes, the stipe and blades.

P. californica and other Laminariales attempt to reduce their epiphytic load by periodically sloughing off their surface layers and by the production of "antifouling" substances such as phenols in their tissues.

[11] At Race Rocks, near Vancouver Island, it was found that during the winter, the only remains of the kelp forest was the bare stipes of P. californica, the annual seaweeds having been broken down and dispersed.

In a research study in that location, it was found that much of the N. luetkeana was growing epiphytically on P. californica with their holdfasts attached to the blades and upper portions of the stipes.

A reduction in the number of predators or a diminution in the quantity of drift algae may encourage hungry urchins to overexploit and potentially eradicate the kelp.