General: Perennial herb from a short rootstock and fibrous root; stems erect, mostly solitary, simple, 6-20 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves egg-shaped, abruptly tapered at the base, 0.5-2.5 cm long, entire; stem leaves lacking.
Flowers: Inflorescence of single terminal flowers on leafless stalks, petals 5, white, 1- to 3(5)-veined, elliptic-lanceolate or more or less egg-shaped; calyces lobed nearly to the base, the lobes oblong, about the same length as the petals; sterile stamens with a thin scale ending in 5 short segments or reduced to a bilobed or single scale.
Fruits: Capsules, egg-shaped, 0.8-1 cm long; seeds numerous.
Notes: The supposedly distinct, more southern var. pumila C.L. Hitchc. & Ownbey also occurs in northern populations and is therefore of dubious merit (Douglas and Ratcliffe 1981).
1. Petals fringed or comb-like on the lower half...................P. fimbriata
1. Petals not frnged or comb-like on the lower half.
2. Flowering stems bractless or with a near-basal bract; petals 1-3 (5) veined.............P. kotzebuei
2. Flowering stems usually with a bract above the level of the basal leaves; petals 5-13-veined.
3. Petals 7-13-veined, 6-12 mm long; sterile stamens cleft into up to 15 slender divisions; leaves often blunt or heart-shaped at base...................P. palustris
3. Petals usually 5-veined, usually 4-8 mm long; sterile stamens cleft into up to 7 slender divisions; leaves tapered at base....................P. parviflora
Source: Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Habitat / Range
Wet to moist meadows and streambanks in the montane to alpine zones; frequent in BC N of 54degreeN and east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, rare southward; amphiberingian, N to AK, YT and NT, E to Labr. and Greenland, S to WA, NV and WY; Siberia.
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)
