It is native to northern and central California and southwestern Oregon, where it can be found in coastal and inland coniferous forests and other habitat.

The six stamens form a fused tube that protrudes from the corolla; they have broad, flat filaments and whitish, yellowish, or blue anthers.

The plant produces one or two grass-like, linear leaves about 10–50 cm (4–20 in) long by 3–15 mm (0.1–0.6 in) wide that emerge from the top of the corm in early spring.

[3][4][5] Like an onion, the leaves have a keel (longitudinal ridge) on the underside and a channel on the upper side with straight margins and a smooth surface.

[4] In mature plants, the leaves are followed by production of a stiff, cylindrical scape (flower stalk) that is 10–80 cm (4–30 in) tall, 1–5 mm (0.04–0.2 in) diameter, and is mostly smooth although sometimes scabrous at the base.

[3] Triteleia ixioides flowers range from straw-colored to golden yellow (or very occasionally white flushed with purple), with the colors of the upper and lower tepal surfaces similar.

[4][5] (Triteleia dudleyi is a similar, but less common species from high elevations in the Sierra Nevada that has a much longer tube with a rounded base.)

[4][5] Inside the flower, the stamen filaments provide the primary identifying character separating Triteleia ixioides from related species, and distinguishing among the five described subspecies.

[4] Fertilized flowers form ovoid, capsular fruits that are loculicidally dehiscent (i.e. they split vertically down the center of each of the three chambers when ripe).

The seed surface has relatively large irregularly distributed pits and at a finer scale is granulate or granulate–reticulate (i.e. bumpy with elements of a net-like arrangement).

[6] Aiton's published description was likely actually written by botanist Jonas Carlsson Dryander, working as a librarian for Joseph Banks, and so the author citation is given as "Dryand.

The specific epithet ixioides means "like Ixia", in reference to a slight similarity to that unrelated monocot genus from southern Africa.

A significant part of that confusion stemmed from rivalry between botanist Richard Anthony Salisbury and members of Britain's scientific establishment such as James Smith.

In many cases, Salisbury rushed out his own descriptions of new taxa based on talks he had heard at institutions such as the Royal Society before they could be published by the genuine identifier.