General:
Perennial herb from thick stem-bases with short rhizomes, sometimes with bulblets; flowering stem 1, 10-30 cm tall, hairy to nearly smooth below, glandular-hairy above, the glands mostly reddish or purplish.

Leaves:
Basal leaves egg-shaped to triangular, 2-7 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, gradually tapered at base, entire or minutely toothed, usually fringed, sometimes smooth, but often with rusty, tangled hairs below, the stalks 15-50 mm long; stem leaves lacking.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a terminal cluster of flowers, compact, cylindric, the bracts usually linear to linear-lanceolate, some with rusty, woolly hairs; petals usually whitish or yellowish, 1-2 mm long, narrowly elliptic to round; calyces cone-shaped, joined to the base of the ovary, free hypanthium absent, the lobes egg-shaped to triangular, as long as or longer than petals, spreading, sometimes bent back; stamens 10.

Fruits:
Follicles, 3.5-5 mm long, often reddish or purplish; seeds brown, about 0.6 mm long, lightly wrinkled lengthwise.

Notes:
Some material east of the Cascade Mountains appears to approach var. claytoniaefolia (Canby ex Small) Elvander in some aspects but these plants are not sufficiently distinct from var. nidifica.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia