Rosy owl-clover is an attractive meadow wildflower with simple to branched and erect stems from 10-40 cm high. The herbage is hairy throughout. The hairs of the stems are short and directed downward while those of the leaves are short and spreading or pressed towards the blade. The hairs within the inflorescence are longer and often tipped with glands. The lower leaves are long and entire with entire margins, while the upper stem leaves are three-forked.. The leaves are 1.5-3.5 cm long.
The upper leaves become broader three-lobed bracts within the dense inflorescence. The bracts are all strongly veined, somewhat glandular with wide triangular bases and 3-cleft, the lateral lobes narrower. The upper bracts may become tinged with purple. The calyx is 10-12 mm long and two-cleft with two-forked segments. The pink-purple to occasionally white corolla is 12-20 mm long. The base of the tube is narrow, gradually expanding to the swollen, sac-like lower lip. The upper lip is short and wide with a hooked, glabrous tip.
Rosy owl-clover is found in moist meadows at low elevations.
Rosy owl-clover may be found along the eastern base of the Cascade Mts. from southern British Columbia south to northern California and westward.
