Annuals, 40-240 cm. Stems puberulent or glabrous. Leaves: petiole 0.1-3 cm; leaflets 3, gray-green abaxially, yellowish green adaxially, blade obovate, 0.4-2(-3.5) × 0.4-2 cm, less than 2.8 times as long as wide, margins entire, apex rounded, surfaces puberulent. Racemes 1-1.5 cm (2-3 cm in fruit). Flowers: sepals green, lanceolate, 0.5-1.6 × 0.3-0.7 mm, more than 1.75 times as long as wide, margins entire, glabrous; petals yellow, oblong, 2.5-5 × 0.6-1.9 mm; stamens yellow, 2-9 mm; anthers 1.3-2.5 mm; gynophore ca. 5 mm in fruit, usually longer than pedicel. Schizocarps 1.4-3.4 × 1 mm. Seeds 0.5 × 0.3 mm. 2n = 40.

Flowering late Jul-Oct. Sandy washes, banks of irrigation ditches, roadsides, croplands; 20-300 m; Calif.

Wislizenia californica is known only from the San Joaquin Valley.