It is endemic to California, where it is known in coastal and inland salt marshes in the Central Valley, particularly the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

In general this is a grayish or purplish green annual coated in long whitish hairs, sometimes bristly and glandular.

hispidus, the hispid bird's beak, grows in alkaline and saline soils of marshes and 'playas' (a local name for inland salt flats) in scattered locations throughout the Central Valley.

molle, known by the common name soft bird's beak, is only known from the coastal salt marshes and swamps of the inner San Francisco Bay Area and delta.

Threats to the survival of this subspecies include the invasive marsh plant Spartina patens,[3] and destruction of its native habitat by erosion and drainage of the marshland.