Wings are dark brown to red-brown. The gray area outside the white postmedian band does not contain any red. Crescent spots on the forewings and hindwings are white, although occasionally the spots on the forewing may be reduced or absent.
Caterpillars hatch in less than two weeks and are solitary feeders.
The cocoon is compact and spun close to the ground on the trunk or stem of the host plant or on nearby thick undergrowth. One brood from May-July. Glover's silkmoth, H. c. gloveri , once considered a separate species, is now treated as a subspecies of the Columbia silkmoth. G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, though it may be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery. A field guide to the moths of eastern North America.