General: Perennial herb from slender rhizomes, with small bulblets; stems erect, 10-30 cm tall, densely glandular-hairy throughout, noticeably purplish above.
Leaves: Basal leaves round-to kidney-shaped, 1-3 cm wide, palmately 3- to 5-divided nearly to the base, then again 2- to 3-times lobed, teeth more or less pointed; stalks slender, 2-6 cm long, with widened stipular bases; stem leaves 2 (1-3), more divided than basal, unstalked above.
Flowers: Inflorescence a 5- to 11-flowered cluster; petals white or pinkish to purplish, 5, usually unequal, 5-10 mm long, clawed, the blades wedge egg-shaped, usually 3-cleft; calyces cone-shaped, 4-6 mm long (up to 10 mm long in fruit), part joined to ovary greater than the free hypanthium; calyx lobes 5, triangular egg-shaped, 1-2 mm long, almost as wide; stamens 10.
Fruits: Capsules, about length of calyces when mature; seeds brown, elliptic, about 0.5 mm long, irregularly veiny and ridged lengthwise.
Mesic to dry coastal bluffs, meadows, open coniferous and deciduous forests, grasslands and shrublands in the lowland and steppe to montane zones; frequent in extreme S BC; E to AB and S to NE, CO, UT, 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)
