The plant is a biennial or short-lived perennial. The flowers are cream-colored, with four sepals and four petals arranged in a cross shape, as is characteristic of the Brassicaceae. It is usually reported to flower from February to April, but can be seen in flower as early as January and as late as June, depending on the site. The plant is delicate-looking; it prefers open scrubby areas with a fair amount of sunlight, but can flourish on a range of soils including disintegrating serpentine, gravelly and sandy soils. It is fairly easily cultivated in gardens.
Although not formally recognised as endangered, the Franciscan wallflower has a limited, discontinuous distribution and its numbers are kept under observation by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (since some of its last known habitats in the city area are in parks) and the California Native Plants Society.
Rare plants in the Presidio are found in either dune communities or serpentine communities because invasive non-native plants are not able to dominate these nutrient-poor areas.
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