General:
Annual herb from a short taproot and fibrous roots; stems erect or ascending, 5-30 cm tall, simple or branched at the base, glandular-hairy or smooth.

Leaves:
Opposite, unstalked or the lowermost tapering to a stalk-like base, narrowly oblong to lanceolate, 0.5-3 cm long, irregularly toothed or entire, usually smooth.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a terminal, bracted, elongate, lax raceme of several to many, very short-stalked (0.5-1.5 mm) flowers, the bracts alternate, gradually reduced upward; corollas whitish, inconspicuous, 2-3 mm across, irregularly 4-lobed; calyces short glandular-hairy or smooth, 3-6 mm long, deeply 4-lobed, the lobes lanceolate, unequal; styles very short, 0.1-0.4 mm long; stamens 2.

Fruits:
Capsules, 3-4 mm long, flattened, heart-shaped, about as wide as long, broadly notched at the tip, glandular-hairy or smooth; seeds numerous, 0.4-1 mm long.

Notes:
Two varieties occur in BC:

1. Plants smooth; rare on Vancouver Island and the lower Fraser Valley..................... var. peregrina

1. Plants short stalked-glandular in the inflorescences and on the capsules; the frequent variety....................... var. xalapensis (H.B.K.) St. John & Warren

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia