Ionactis caelestis is only known from a single population that occurs on the Aztec Sandstone near Bridge Mountain in the Spring Mountains of Clark County, Nevada (Nesom and Leary 1992).

Nesom and Leary (1992) estimated that there are about a thousand plants of the Ionactis spread over about 10 acres, and it is among the most abundant species in the area. While this species does not appear to be in danger of extinction, it certainly must be counted among the rarest in North America (Nesom and Leary 1992).

A couple other BLM botanists and myself surveyed for this species, and we believe we expanded the known range of this species slightly, but the known range is still confined to the Bridge Mountain area in Red Rock Canyon.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2806841.pdf?seq=1