General: Evergreen perennial from horizontal stems about 3 mm wide, on the soil (or rock) surface, or shallowly buried; upright shoots branched, 5-15 cm tall, bluish-green, with flattened branches.
Leaves: Leaves on the convex side of the branches and leaves on their edges unstalked, short, triangular, those on the concave sides trowel shaped, bent upright at right angles to their short stalks that are perpendicular to the branches, the leaves bent upright at right angles to the bases.
Open dry to mesic areas in heath and tundra communities in the subalpine and alpine zones; frequent throughout BC, except absent on the Queen Charlotte Islands; circumpolar, N to AK, YT, and NT, E to AB and S to MT, ID, and WA, disjunct to MI, PQ, NB, and NF; Eurasia.
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)
