Camissoniopsis lewisii is primarily a coastal species, of southern California, between San Diego and Santa Barbara, including a few inland locations. The sessile leaves grow in a rosette at the base, and all the way along the stems. They have a covering of thick, white hairs, spreading to appressed. Leaf surfaces are somewhat wrinkled and uneven, especially for those along the stem. Leaf margins are lined with tiny teeth. Stems may be simple and erect, or branched and decumbent.
Flowers have a glandular, hairy hypanthium, four narrow green to reddish sepals, and four yellow petals, for which (red) basal spots are faint or absent. Fruits are red, coiled pods, four-angled in cross-section, up to 0.8 inches long.