Leaves: Alternate, the blades egg-shaped to elliptic, 3-10 cm long, hairy on the underside of the veins, finely toothed, glandular; stalks 1-2.5 cm long; stipules 3-6 mm long, soon deciduous.
Flowers: Inflorescence a terminal panicle with numerous flowers on short lateral branches of last year's growth; petals 5, white, long-clawed; calyces 5-lobed, the lobes deciduous.
Fruits: Capsules, 3-4 mm long, separating into 3, dehiscent, rounded carpels; seeds 1 per carpel.
Mesic to dry rocky slopes, shrublands, open forests and burns in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common in S BC; S to ID, MT and CA, disjunct in MI.
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 very shade-intolerant, submontane to montane, Western North American deciduous shrub distributed more in the Cordilleran than the Pacific region. Occurs in continental climates on very dry to moderately dry, nitrogen-medium soils. Scattered and often plentiful on disturbed water-shedding sites within cool temperate, cool semiarid, and dry cool mesothermal climates; its occurrence increases with continentality. Common in early seral communities in the coastal-interior ecotone. When forming a shrub layer it hinders regeneration and growth of shade-intolerant conifers. Symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria enhances the supply of available soil nitrogen. Characteristic of moisture-deficient sites.
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