General: Perennial herb from a short woody stem-base on widespread, slender, horizontal rhizomes; stems erect, 5-30 cm tall; nearly smooth to densely soft-hairy.
Leaves: Basal, 1 to 5 (7), ascending, heart- to kidney-shaped, 1.5-3 (4) cm wide, 3-parted, margins usually broadly toothed to toothed on upper 1/3, the terminal leaflet obtriangular, 0.7-1.8 cm long, 0.5-1.3 cm wide, the lateral leaflets once- or twice-lobed, the ultimate segments 4-15 mm wide, nearly smooth to soft-hairy; stalks 2-10 cm long.
Flowers: Inflorescence 1-flowered, terminal; flower stalks soft-hairy; involucral bracts 2 to 3, leaf-like, similar to terminal leaflets of basal leaves; petals absent; sepals 4 to 7, petal-like, white or tinged blue, broadly elliptic to egg-shaped, 8-20 mm long, 4-9 mm wide, hairy and often bluish outside, smooth inside; stamens 70-80.
Fruits: Achenes, numerous in a spheric head on stalks 4-18 cm long, the achenes egg-shaped, 2-2.5 mm long, about 1 mm wide, not winged, densely woolly; beaks straight, 1-2.5 mm long, smooth.
Moist meadows, heath, seepage sites, snowbeds, scree, tundra, thickets, streambanks and forest openings from the montane to the alpine zones; frequent throughout BC; N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to ID, CO and NE OR.
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)
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