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General:
Low shrub; stems 10-50 cm tall, much branched; young stems finely hairy but soon becoming glabrous.
Leaves:
Evergreen, opposite, leathery, oblong-lanceolate to narrowly oblong, (0.6) 0.8-4 cm long, (2) 3-11 mm wide, entire, margins often rolled under, shiny, dark green and glabrous above, greyish and very finely and densely short glandular-hairy beneath, often with a prominent midrib; stalks 2-5 mm long.
Flowers:
In terminal 1- to 12-flowered clusters; flower stalks 1-4 cm long, usually glabrous; corollas deep pinkish-rose, saucer-shaped, 1-2 cm wide; calyces deeply 5-lobed, lobes egg-shaped, 2-3 mm long, glabrous or occasionally sparsely and minutely fringed; stamens 10, held in sacs on petals until full bloom, densely hairy just above the base, otherwise glabrous.
Fruits:
Five-valved capsules, nearly globe-shaped, glabrous, about 4 mm wide and 5 mm long.
Notes:
Two subspecies are recognized in BC:
1. Leaves oval to broadly elliptic, usually less than 2 cm long, and less than 2 times as long as wide; calyces less than 7 mm wide; plants occurring E of the Coast-Cascades Range in BC and usually at high elevations..............ssp. microphylla
1. Leaves lance-shaped, usually 2.5 cm long or longer, and 2.5-4 times as long as wide; calyces more than 7 mm wide; plants of coastal BC and intermittently inland, usuallyat low to moderate elevations..................ssp. occidentalis (Small) Taylor & MacBryde
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
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