General: Perennial herb from short, thick rhizomes; stems erect, 15-90 cm tall, smooth to finely glandular-hairy or stiff-hairy below, glandular-hairy above, naked or with 1 to 3 brownish or greenish bracts.
Leaves: Basal leaves egg-shaped to nearly heart- or kidney-shaped, 1-6 cm wide, shorter or longer than wide, palmately-lobed, the lobes round-toothed, smooth or finely glandular-hairy to stiff-hairy; long-stalked, the stalks smooth to minutely glandular short-hairy or with conspicuous white hairs intermixed with short glandular hairs; stem leaves lacking; stipules membranous, fused to the leaf stalks.
Flowers: Inflorescence spike-like, becoming open, 3-12 (20) cm long; petals white to greenish-yellow, 5, often absent or partly absent, linear, much shorter than calyx lobes; calyces greenish-yellow to cream-coloured, narrowly bell-shaped, joined to ovary almost to top, the free hypanthium slightly to strongly lop-sided, equal to or longer than part joined to ovary, lined with a thin to thick, somewhat glandular disk, calyx lobes 5, oblong-lanceolate to egg-shaped and overlapping, erect, longer than the hypanthium; stamens 5, opposite and shorter than calyx lobes.
Fruits: Capsules, 6-10 mm long, opening along the beaks; seeds dark brown, 0.6-0.9 mm long, with lengthwise rows of slender, straight to curved spines.
Notes: Four intergrading and largely sympatric varieties occur in BC .
1. Leaf stalks smooth to minutely glandular-short-hairy; plants mainly of SE BC.
2. Largest leaves 3.2-8.0 cm long, the teeth not or only slightly mucronate...................var. glabella (T.& G.) Wheelock
2. Largest leaves 2.2-4.8 cm long, the teeth usually strongly mucronate......................var. septentrionalis Rosend., Butters & Lakela
1. Leaf stalks generally with conspicuous white hairs intermixed with short glandular hairs; plants mainly of SC BC.
3. Largest leaves 3.0-8.5 cm long, the bases slightly to strongly heart-shaped ..........................var. cylindrica
3. Largest leaves 2.0-6.0 cm long, the bases squared-off or slightly heart-shaped..........................var. orbicularis (Rosend., Butters & Lakela) Calder & Savile
Dry to mesic rocky places, cliffs and talus slopes from the lowland to alpine zones; common in S BC in and E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; E to SW AB and S to WY, ID, NV and 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)
