General: Perennial herb from an elongate, long-necked, narrowly egg-shaped, scaly bulb, the outer scales membranous, without a fibrous network, the inner scales faintly pinkish, the bulbs often clustered; flowering stems erect but down-curved near the top, 10-50 cm tall, slender, often somewhat angled, smooth.
Leaves: Basal leaves several per bulb, linear, flat to channeled, shorter than the flowering stem, about 3 mm wide, smooth, the margins entire or minutely toothed; stem leaves lacking.
Flowers: Inflorescence a compact, terminal, nodding umbel of several to many, stalked flowers, above 2 membranous bracts, the stalks 1-3 cm long, the bracts soon deciduous; flowers pink to rose-purple or whitish, bell-shaped, of 6 distinct tepals, the tepals 4-6 mm long, elliptic-egg-shaped, blunt; stamens 6, exserted; pistil 1, 3-chambered.
Fruits: Capsules, more or less egg-shaped, 3-lobed, with 6 crests, 2 on each lobe; seeds 6 or fewer, dull-black.
Dry to mesic rocky bluffs, grassy slopes, meadows and open forests in the lowland and steppe to subalpine zones; common in BC south of 56degreeN; E to ON and S to NY, NC, GA, MS, TX, WY, UT, ID 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)
A shade-intolerant, montane to subalpine, transcontinental North American forb. Occurs on nitrogen-medium, water-shedding sites within boreal, temperate, and cool mesothermal climates. Its occurrence decreases with increasing precipitation and latitude. Occasional in early-seral communities on shallow soils of rock outcrops; frequently inhabits exposed mineral soils. Characteristic of summer-dry temperate and mesothermal forests.
