It is native to the Pacific Coast of North America from British Columbia to California, where it grows in sand dunes and other coastline habitat.

[2] It is a rhizomatous perennial herb with a thick, low-lying stem up to 25 centimeters long, branching to form a mass of vegetation.

The leaves are up to 25 centimeters long and thick but featherlike, divided into many narrow leaflets on each side of the main rachis.

The inflorescence bears up to 15 flower heads, each about a centimeter wide or slightly wider.

The fruit is an achene a few millimeters long which is tipped with a small pappus of toothed scales.