General: Perennial herb from a slender rhizome that is abruptly thick and tuber-like at tip; stems ascending to erect, 10-60 cm tall, simple or occasionally branched, finely to stiff-hairy, 4-angled.
Leaves: Opposite, elliptic to lanceolate, 2-8 cm long, 0.6-3 cm wide, gradually narrowed at tip and base, glabrous or minutely rough-hairy, margins coarsely and irregularly toothed; usually short-stalked; uppermost leaves not much reduced.
Flowers: Inflorescence of many head-like, axillary flower clusters; corollas tubular, 4-lobed, white or pinkish, 2.5-3.5 mm long, surpassing the calyces; calyx teeth 5, egg-shaped, soft, blunt to somewhat pointed at tips.
Fruits: Nutlets, 4 clustered together, 1-2 mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, 3-angled, corky-thickened at edges, somewhat flat and finely toothed at the top.
Marshes, fens, and stream and lake margins in the lowland and montane zones; frequent in SW BC, less frequent northward and eastward; N to AK, E to NF and S to NC, AR 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)
