General: Perennial herb, soft- to coarse-hairy throughout, from a short thick rhizome and stout stem-base covered in old leaf bases; stems erect, 20-40 cm tall, tufted.
Leaves: Basal leaves numerous, short-stalked, interruptedly pinnately divided, oblong to egg-shaped in outline, 3-15 cm long, with 9 to 19 (29) crowded, wedge-shaped segments cleft again into narrow, toothed divisions; stem leaves opposite, 2 to 4, small, usually divided into linear lobes.
Flowers: Inflorescence an open, bracted, terminal cluster of 1 to 5, usually 3, mostly nodding, stalked flowers that appear to be partially closed; corollas yellowish-white to pink or purplish, the petals 5, elliptic, erect, about as long as the calyx-bractlets; calyces urn- to cup-shaped, reddish-purple, 5-lobed, the lobes lance-triangular, erect, 8-12 mm long, alternating with 5 linear, spreading bractlets, slightly shorter to distinctly longer than the calyx-lobes; ovaries superior; stamens numerous.
Fruits: Achenes, numerous in feathery clusters; achenes pear-shaped, erect, about 3 mm long, beaked; styles 2-5 cm long, slender, feathery-hairy except at the bent tip, bronze to purplish.
Notes: Two varieties occur in BC:
1. Flowers commonly 3; terminal segment of styles usually persistent; calyx-lobes lanceolate................ var. triflorum
1. Flowers commonly more than 3; terminal segment of styles usually deciduous; calyx-lobes narrowly egg-shaped ...............var. ciliatum (Pursh) Fassett
Dry to mesic grasslands, meadows, rocky slopes and open forests in the steppe, montane and subalpine zones; common in S BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, infrequent in the Peace River valley; N to YT and NT, E to NF and S to CA, NM, NE, IL and NY.
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)
