Perennials; (short-lived); caudex simple or branched; sometimes scapose. Stems unbranched or branched (few), (0.2-)0.4-0.9 (-1.2) dm, pubescent through-out, trichomes stellate, 4-8- rayed, 0.05-0.5 mm. Basal leaves rosulate; shortly petiolate; petiole ciliate, margin not ciliate, (trichomes simple and 2-rayed, 0.3-1 mm); blade oblanceolate, 0.6-2 cm × 1.5-4(-6) mm, margins entire, surfaces pubescent with short-stalked, 4-8-rayed trichomes, 0.1-0.4 mm. Cauline leaves 0-3; sessile; blade ovate to oblong, margins entire, surfaces pubescent as basal. Racemes 3-13-flowered, ebracteate, elongated in fruit; rachis not flexuous, pubescent as stem. Fruiting pedicels ascending to divaricate-ascending, straight, (2-)4-9(-12) mm, pubescent, trichomes short-stalked, 4-8-rayed, (0.1-0.4 mm). Flowers: sepals (persistent until fruit maturity), oblong to ovate, 1.7-2.5 mm, pubescent, (trichomes short-stalked, 2-5-rayed); petals white or creamy white, spatulate to oblanceolate, 2.2-3 × 0.8-1 mm; anthers ovate, 0.2-0.35 mm. Fruits lanceolate to oblong, plane, slightly flattened, (5-)6-9(-11) × 1.8-2.5 mm; valves usually pubescent, rarely glabrous, trichomes simple and short-stalked, 2- or 3-rayed, 0.05-0.25 mm; ovules 22-32 per ovary; style 0.1-0.3(-0.4) mm. Seeds oblong, 0.8-1 × 0.5-0.6 mm.

Flowering Jun-Aug. Grassy meadows, alpine areas, fellfields; 3200-4000 m; Calif., Nev.

Although originally treated as a variety of Draba cuneifolia, D. californica is but distantly related to that species. Instead, ongoing studies (L. Allphin and M. D. Windham, unpubl.) suggest that it may be an allopolyploid resulting from hybridization between D. albertina and D. breweri. The species is restricted to the White Mountains in Mono County, California, and adjacent Esmeralda County, Nevada.