General:
Perennial herb from well-developed, horizontal to ascending rhizomes, clothed with old, brown leaf-bases and stipules; stems 1 to several, erect, 15-60 cm tall, smooth to finely glandular-hairy below, strongly glandular-hairy in the inflorescence.

Leaves:
Basal leaves heart-egg-shaped, 3-9 (14) cm wide, shorter than wide, palmately 5-lobed 1/3 to 1/2 to base, the lobes shallowly lobed and coarsely toothed, sparsely glandular-hairy below, smooth above, the stalks long; stem leaves 1 or 2, greatly reduced, the upper bract-like; stipules membranous, fused to the leaf stalks.

Flowers:
Inflorescence an open, many-flowered cluster, the branches and flower-stalks thread-like, the bracts linear; petals white, 5, 2- to 4-times longer than sepals, clawed, the claws slender, blades diamond- to spoon-shaped; calyces greenish-yellow, cone-shaped, glandular-hairy, joined to ovary almost to top, the free hypanthium less than 0.5 mm long; calyx lobes 5, oblong-egg-shaped, about 2/3 length of lower portion; stamens 5, longer than calyx lobes.

Fruits:
Capsules, 5-6 mm long, egg-shaped, opening along the beaks; seeds brown, 0.7-0.8 mm long, with lengthwise rows of about 20 spines.

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