General: Shrub from a taproot; stems decumbent to more or less erect, branched, leafy, often sweetly aromatic, minutely hairy or glandular-hairy to hairless, 10-60 cm tall.
Leaves: Alternate or lower leaves opposite, numerous, 5-12 mm long, with bundles of smaller leaves in their axils, deeply palmately cleft into 3 to 7 rigid, linear, spine-tipped segments, the middle segment the longest; dead leaves remain through 1 or more seasons.
Flowers: Inflorescences terminal clusters of unstalked, sweet-scented flowers solitary in leaf axils; corollas dull white to yellowish with lavender shading on the outer surface, 12-25 mm long, the tube funnel-shaped, flaring to 5 egg-shaped lobes 6-11 mm long; calyces 7-10 mm long, the 5 lobes unequal, spine-tipped; flowers opening in the evening, during the day loosely crumpled-closed.
Fruits: Capsules, 3-5 mm long, 3-chambered; seeds several (5 to 10) per chamber.
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)
