Stems slender, straight, 9-12 cm. Leaves strongly recurved. Flowers: petals 4-5 cm, longer than sepals, bearded; glands shallowly to moderately depressed. Flowering late spring--mid summer. Ocean bluffs; 0--1300 m; Calif. Calochortus clavatus var. recurvifolius is restricted to the southern outer Coast Range north of Arroyo de la Cruz, San Luis Obispo County.