White plectritis is a small, early blooming annual with slender to stout stems from 5-15 cm tall. The herbage is generally smooth, although it maybe finely glandular in the inflorescence. The stems are single with one to several pair of clasping leaves rising from a basal rosette of tiny, oval leaves. The basal leaves often turn yellow very quickly. They are obovate and short petiolate while the stem leaves are oblong or elliptic and sessile. The leaves range from 1-4.5 cm long and 3-18 mm wide.
The inflorescence is clusters of cylindrical flowers at the apex of the stem. The flowers are 5-petalled and white or pinkish. The corolla is 2-6 mm long with a short, thick spur.
White plectritis may be found on streambanks and on seasonally moist slopes.
White plectritis may be found from southern British Columbia south on both sides of the Cascades to southern California and east to Montana and Utah.