It is native to a section of the Great Basin straddling the far northern California-Nevada border, where it grows in sagebrush habitat.

It is nearly endemic to Nevada, with only one occurrence present in Lassen County, California.

[2] Tripterocalyx crux-maltae grows in a patch on the ground, the multibranched stems spreading not more than 30 centimeters long.

The inflorescence is a head of several elongated flowers borne on long, glandular pedicels all attached at the small central receptacle.

The fruit has wide, thin, net-veined or ribbed wings and hairy surfaces.