General: Perennial herb from a branched stem-base and a taproot; stems several, ascending to erect, silky spreading-hairy during flowering otherwise, appressed stiff-hairy to fine grey-hairy, 10-40 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal and lower stem leaves alternate, oblong to oblanceolate in outline, stalked, pinnatifid, the lobes linear-oblong, silky spreading hairy, at least when young, 2-6.5 cm long; middle and upper stem leaves similar, reduced upwards.
Flowers: Inflorescence a coiled, 1-sided, short, dense, spike-like, terminal cluster; corollas dark blue or purple, hairy inside and out, 5-6 mm long and wide; calyces hairy, the lobes linear; stamens long-exserted, 2-3 times as long as the corolla, glabrous.
Fruits: Capsules; seeds 8-18, 1-2 mm long, pitted.
Dry rocky slopes, scree slopes, talus slopes, meadows and forest openings from the montane to alpine zones; common in and E of the Coast-Cascade Mountains in S BC, rare on Vancouver Island; E to SW AB and S to CO, NV and N CA, reportedly disjunct in E AK.
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)
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