General: Perennial herb from fibrous roots and a branching stem-base or short rhizome; spreading-hairy throughout; stems several to many, tufted, erect, 3-50 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves oblanceolate or elliptic, stalked, 5-13 cm long, 2-12 mm wide; stem leaves several, oblong to lance-elliptic, smaller, to 6 cm long, gradually reduced upward, unstalked, entire, alternate.
Flowers: Several to many in coiled, bractless, not much elongating clusters; flowers showy, the flower stalks erect then spreading to ascending, about as long as calyces; petals intensely blue, rarely white, fused at base into a tube that spreads flat (4-10 mm wide) at top to 5 lobes, with 5 yellow bulges at the throat; fruiting calyces 2-5 mm long, with spreading to ascending, often hooked hairs.
Mesic meadows, streambanks, rocky slopes and forest openings in the montane to alpine zones; common in N BC, less common southward; circumpolar, N to AK, YT and NT, E to AB and S to ID, SD and WY; 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)
