General: Densely tufted perennial herb from a taproot; stems, branched, 1-10 cm tall, glabrous or starlike-hairy near base.
Leaves: All basal, narrowly oblanceolate to oblong, 3-12 mm long, 0.7-1.7 mm wide, hairy with 4-rayed, starlike hairs with the rays branched, margins hairy with starlike hairs, starlike hairs on lower leaf surfaces unstalked with mostly 9 or more rays, slightly V-shaped in cross section, midribs prominent and often persistent; stem leaves lacking.
Flowers: Racemes 3- to 15-flowered; flower stalks 2-10 mm long, ascending, glabrous; petals yellow, 3-5 mm long; sepals 2-2.5 mm long, sparsely soft-hairy.
Fruits: Silicles, 3-8 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, egg-shaped to lanceolate or oval, plane, glabrous or hairy; styles 0.2-1 mm long; seeds 2-10, 1.4-1.8 mm long.
Dry rocky slopes, cliffs, meadows, fellfields and scree slopes in the steppe to alpine zones; infrequent in S BC, rare northward; N to AK, YT and NT, E to SW AB and S to WY, CO, NV and CA.
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)
