General: Annual or biennial herb from a spindly taproot; stems single, ascending to erect, 10-40 cm tall, simple or more commonly branched, smooth except sometimes minutely hairy in the inflorescence.
Leaves: Basal leaves small or lacking; stem leaves alternate, unstalked, lance-oblong, 1-5 cm long, pinnately cleft to lobed, the segments toothed or entire.
Flowers: Inflorescences several-flowered, compact, somewhat head-like clusters at the ends of branches, often elongating and with a few lower, remote, axillary flowers, the bracts similar to the leaves but reduced upward; corollas purple or two-toned pinkish and purple, 11-17 mm long, 2-lipped, the upper lip 4-7 mm long, slightly arched, hood-like, beakless, with or more often without a pair of slender teeth near the tip, the lower lip 3-lobed, fringed with minute hairs; calyces 4-6 mm long, 2-lobed, the lobes jaggedly toothed; stamens 4, the filaments long-hairy.
Fruits: Capsules, egg-shaped, abruptly pointy-tipped, smooth, 8-17 mm long, partly enveloped by dry expanded calyces; seeds several.
Notes: The relationship between this species, P. macrodonta, and the entity found on the Queen Charlotte Islands that has been named P. pennellii ssp. insularis, needs further clarification. It seems best to consider them synonymous with P. parviflora ssp. parviflora.
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)
