Nuttall's linanthastrum is many-branched perennial with lax to erect stems arising from a branching, woody base. The individual stems may rise as much as 30 cm high. The leaves are found on the stems and are palmately five to nine cleft, and linear in shape, with a length to 2 cm. They appear whorled around the stems, and clusters of smaller leaves are found in the leaf axils.

The individual flowers are tubular, five-petaled, with the corolla limb about 1 cm wide.Each of the oblong corolla lobes is roughly 6-8 mm long. The flower color is white or creamy with yellowish throat, and the flowers are clustered in subsessile, leafy-bracteate clumps at the ends of the stems (as seen in the photo at right). The flowers are sweetly aromatic. The yellow anthers barely reach the opening of the tube. The calyx is cylindric, measuring from 7-9 mm long, which is roughly about equal to the length of the corolla tube.

Nuttall's linanthastrum would be a lovely addition to an east of the Cascades rock garden. Several nurseries have samples of this lovely plant, but it is difficult to establish and maintain for more than one or two growing seasons.

Nuttall's linanthastrum lives on dry, open or lightly wooded, often rocky slopes from the foothills to well up into the mountains.

Nuttall's linanthastrum may be found from the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mts from Washington south through Oregon to southern California. It may also be found eastward through central Idaho, western Wyoming, Colorado, and into New Mexico. In Oregon, it is easily seen in Newberry Crater, the Steens Mt., and in the Blue Mts.