General:
Tufted perennial herb from an elongate rhizome and a branched stem-base, up to 10 cm or longer, mostly less than 5 mm in diameter, covered with withered and persistent leaf bases; stems 1.5-20 cm tall, few to numerous, simple, sparsely to densely hairy with branched and simple hairs.

Leaves:
Basal leaves linear to wedge-shaped or egg-shaped, 0.4-10 cm long, 1-15 mm wide, entire to pinnately divided, segments oblong to wedge-shaped, sparsely to densely hairy with fine, freely-branched hairs, stalks slender, conspicuously ciliate near the base with long, stiff, simple hairs; stem leaves several, reduced, nearly unstalked, lobes more linear.

Flowers:
Inflorescences head-like, elongating in fruit to 10 cm long; flower stalks ascending to spreading, 5-10 mm long, hairy with generally simple hairs; petals white to purplish-tinged, 5-7 mm long, 3-4 mm wide; sepals often pinkish- or purplish-tinged, 2-3 mm long, soft-hairy, deciduous just after anthesis.

Fruits:
Siliques, linear to narrowly oblong, tapering at both ends, 5-12 mm long, 1-2.5 mm wide, glabrous (rarely hairy), slightly flattened or nearly round in cross section; beaks 0.3-1.5 mm long; seeds about 2 mm long, wingless, 4-10.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Smelowskia calycina (Stephan ex Willd.) C.A. Mey.