General: Perennial herb from a branching woody stem-base; stems erect, 10-30 cm tall, stiff-hairy.
Leaves: Basal, 5 to 15, ascending, 3- or 4-times 3-parted, sometimes irregularly so, the ultimate segments linear, 1-2.5 mm wide, long-hairy; stalks 2-10 cm long.
Flowers: Inflorescence 1- (2-) flowered, terminal; flower stalks long soft-hairy; involucral bracts 3 (-4), 1-tiered, leaf-like, similar to basal leaves but short-stalked; petals absent; sepals usually 6 to 9, petal-like, all white or white tinged with blue on outside, narrowly egg-shaped, 8-20 mm long, 6-10 mm wide, hairy on outside, smooth inside; stamens 80-100, whitish.
Fruits: Achenes, numerous in a spheric head, rarely cylindric, on stalks 3-10 cm long, the achenes egg-shaped, 2-4 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, not winged, silky-hairy; beaks straight, 2-4 (6) mm long, smooth.
Notes: Two varieties occur in BC:
1. Ultimate leaf segments mostly 1.5-2.5 mm wide; beaks 2-2.5 mm long................. var. lithophila (Rydb.) C.L. Hitchc.
1. Ultimate leaf segments mostly 1-1.5(2) mm wide; beaks mostly 2-4 (6) mm long................. var. drummondii
Mesic to dry meadows, rock outcrops and scree slopes in the subalpine and alpine zones; rare in SW BC (var. drummondii), common in SE BC, infrequent elsewhere E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains (var. lithophila); N to AK, YT and NT, E to AB and S to WY (var. lithophila), S to CA, disjunct in C ID (var. drummondii).
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)
