General: Perennial herb from thick stem-bases and dense fibrous roots; flowering stems 1 or more, 15-35 cm tall, branched, soft-hairy below, glandular-hairy above.
Leaves: Basal leaves in a rosette, oblanceolate to wedge-shaped, 2-10 cm long, 5-15 mm wide, 7- to 17-toothed, gradually tapered at base to winged stalks, somewhat fleshy, greyish-hairy, thin-hairy or sparsely fringed; stem leaves lacking.
Flowers: Inflorescence open, diffuse, branched, the bracts leaf-like or greatly reduced and linear, the lower ones often with bulblets; petals white, curved to one side of flower, 4-6 mm long, of 2 types, 3 wider and egg-shaped with bases squared-off to heart-shaped, the other 2 more elliptic-lanceolate to broadly egg-shaped, the bases wedge-shaped; calyces nearly free of ovary, lobed almost to base, the lobes oblong-egg-shaped, 1.5-2.5 mm long, reddish or purplish, sharply bent back; stamens 10.
Fruits: Capsules, 4-6 mm long; seeds brownish, about 0.7 mm long, with several lengthwise rows of pimples.
Moist rock outcrops, gravelly slopes and streambanks in the lowland to alpine zones; frequent throughout BC, except absent in NE BC; N to AK and YT, E to AB and S to WY, ID and CA.
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)
