Ray corollas yellow. 2n = 16.

Flowering Mar–Jun. Grass-lands, openings in woodlands, chaparral, sandy or clayey soils, sometimes serpentine; 100–1200 m; Calif.

Subspecies pentachaeta occurs in the Sierra Nevada foothills north of the Tehachapi Range and in the San Joaquin Valley and South Inner Coast Ranges. Putative hybrids with Layia pentachaeta subsp. albida have been collected in the southern Sierra Nevada (e.g., Keck 3258 in UC); artificial, highly fertile hybrids of the same combination have been produced; (J. Clausen 1951).