Herbs glandular puberulent and villous. Stems erect, slender, often branched, 2–22 cm. Leaves: proximalmost usually clustered near base; blade sometimes with purple splotches or dots, linear, 1–3 × 0.04–0.2 cm, base narrowly cuneate, margins serrulate, apex acumi­nate. Flowers opening near sunrise; floral tube 0.8–1.6 mm, glabrous inside; sepals 1.2–2 mm, reflexed separately; petals 1.8–3.1 mm, each with 2 red dots basally; episepalous filaments 0.8–2 mm, epipetalous filaments 0.4–0.9 mm, anthers 0.3–0.4 mm, pollen with less than 5% of grains 4- or 5-pored; style 1.6–3.2 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis. Capsules 18–32 × 0.6–1 mm; pedicel 0–2 mm. Seeds 0.7–0.8 × 0.4 mm. 2n = 14.

Flowering Apr–Jun. Sandy soils on open or brushy slopes, usually with sagebrush scrub; 100–3000 m; Calif., Idaho, Nev., Oreg., Utah, Wash.

P. H. Raven (1969) determined that Camissonia pusilla is a self-compatible diploid and autogamous; it is closely related to C. kernensis, C. parvula, and C. pubens.