General: Perennial herb from a branched stem-base and slender rhizome; stems ascending to erect, several, usually branched, more or less curly or downswept short-hairy or rarely glabrous, 4-20 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves lacking; stem leaves opposite, 3-7 pairs, narrowly elliptic-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 3-30 mm long, 2-12 mm wide, rounded to obtuse, lower ones smaller, margins and midrib short rough-hairy, usually short rough-hairy below as well, often with sterile shoots arising in the leaf axils; stipules lacking.
Flowers: Inflorescence of 5-6 flowers in terminal and lateral clusters, occasionally solitary; petals 5 or occasionally 4, white, egg-shaped, 3.5-8 mm long; sepals 5 or occasionally 4, green with white margins, oblong, rounded, 2-3 mm long, usually glabrous.
Fruits: Capsules nearly globose, 2-4 mm long, 6-valved; seeds smooth, black, shiny, 0.8-1.1 mm long, with a small, fleshy appendage.
Moist to dry forests and meadows in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; frequent E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, rare on the Queen Charlotte Islands; N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to PA, NM 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)
