Plants slender. Flowering stems simple, 20-40 cm. Leaves in basal rosette and cauline, basal weakly 3-lobed, cauline (2), opposite, (1 pair), deeply 3-lobed, reduced, similar to basal; stipules narrow, not decurrent on petiole, (margins fimbriate); petiole to 9 cm; blade dark green or reddish green, reniform, (base ligulate), surfaces sparsely hairy. Inflorescences solitary flowers or 1-3, (lax), nodding, 2-5(-8)-flowered racemes, simple, (10-40 cm). Pedicels 1.5-2 times longer than hypanthium. Flowers persistent, fragrant, vertical; hypanthium turbinate, elongating in fruit, open at throat, (length 2 times diam.); sepals erect, becoming wide-spreading after anthesis, triangular; petals (exserted), widely spreading, white, ovate, narrowly clawed, unlobed, (bowl-shaped), 4-8 mm, ultimate margins entire; ovary 1/2 inferior; styles included in fruit; stigma papillae apical. Seeds 0.4 mm, tuberculate (tubercles in 3-19 rows, blunt or spinelike). 2n = 14 + 1.

Flowering Mar-Apr. Shady oak-manzanita/arbutus woodland, mountainous regions, drainage courses; 0-2000 m; Calif.

Lithophragma cymbalaria is the only species of the genus with a single pair of opposite cauline leaves. It shows a high degree of self-compatibility, with abundant seeds produced; it may produce abundant bulbils. It is found from Stanislaus County to Santa Barbara County including the northern Channel Islands.