Loch Lomond coyote thistle is found around vernal pools.

Loch Lomond coyote thistle is a plant that is dependent on vernal pools. It has slender, loosely branched stems that reach 7.9 to 11.8 inches tall. The entire plant is covered with downy hairs. The mature leaves are 4.3 to 6.3 inches long, and the leaf blade is lance-shaped. In this species, the rounded flower heads are only 0.12 to 0.20 inch in diameter; however, the stems supporting the flower heads may be as much as 3.1 inches long. Each flower head contains only five to seven tiny flowers that can be white or tinged with purple.

The plant flowers after the water evaporates from the pools, typically between June and August. Little else is known about the reproductive ecology or demography of this species. However, its life history may be quite similar to that of Vasey’s coyote-thistle (E. vaseyi), producing a tuft of tubular leaves underwater from the perennial rootstock or from a newly-germinated seed in the late winter or early spring. It later develops broad terrestrial leaves in the spring, as the water evaporates and flowers in the summer, developing fruit by July or August.