General:
Annual herb from a slender taproot; stems very leafy, 5-20 cm tall, simple or branched below, usually glabrous, sometimes greyish-hairy.

Leaves:
Linear to linear-spoon-shaped, 0.5-3 cm long, 1-2 mm wide, entire, not significantly reduced above.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a crowded spike, the bracts leaf-like and hiding flowers and fruits, the flowers opening at dawn; hypanthium about 0.2 mm long; petals 0.8-1.5 mm long, white to pinkish; sepals about 1 mm long; largest stamens about 0.7 mm long; ovaries glabrous or glandular fine-hairy.

Fruits:
Capsules, 7-15 mm long, linear to somewhat club-shaped, smooth or very slightly constricted between seeds, the lateral 2 valves staying attached; unstalked or nearly so; seeds 24-50, nearly opposite when compared between chambers, ascending at an oblique angle, 0.5-0.75 mm long, glabrous to fine-hairy.

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

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Gayophytum nuttallii Torr. & A. Gray