General: Perennial herb from a deep, scaly, narrowly egg-shaped bulb 2-3 cm long; flowering stems 20-80 cm tall, smooth.
Leaves: Basal leaves several, linear-lanceolate and grass-like, 8-30 cm long, 3-15 mm wide, smooth, glaucous, somewhat keeled, the margins entire; stem leaves few, reduced upward becoming bract-like.
Flowers: Inflorescence an open, terminal cluster of few to several, stalked flowers, the stalks 1-5 cm long, ascending; flowers greenish-white to yellowish-white, bowl- to saucer-shaped, of 6 distinct tepals, the tepals narrowly egg-shaped, 7-11 mm long, each with a large, dark green, deeply notched gland near the base just above the short claws; stamens 6; pistil 1, 3-chambered.
Fruits: Capsules, narrowly egg-shaped, 3-lobed, 1.5-2 cm long; seeds numerous, straw-coloured, 5-6 mm long.
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)
Moist to dry meadows, rocky or grassy slopes, tundra and open forests (often on calcium-rich sites) in the steppe to alpine zones; frequent in E and N BC, rare in SC BC; N to AK, E to SK and S to IA, TX, NM, AZ, NV and OR.
