General: Perennial herb from a rhizome and branching stem-base; stems single or several, loosely tufted, erect or ascending, spreading-hairy to glandular-hairy, 8-30 cm tall.
Leaves: Alternate, mostly basal, pinnately compound; leaflets 13 to 23, elliptic to oval, 4-12 mm long, 1-5 mm wide, distinctly hairy (at least when young).
Flowers: Inflorescences terminal or axillary head-like clusters of short-stalked flowers; corollas blue, rarely white, broadly bell-shaped, 15-20 mm long, the 5 lobes slightly longer than the yellowish tube and rounded at the tip; calyces 5-10 mm long, the 5 teeth lanceolate to oblong, usually pointed.
Mesic to dry meadows, tundra, scree slopes and rock outcrops in the montane to alpine zones; rare in and E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains in BC, north of 52degreeN; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT; E Greenland, Scandinavia, N Asia.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
