General: Perennial herb from a slender rhizome; stems prostrate to ascending, several, simple, matted, glabrous, 5-60 cm tall/long.
Leaves: Basal leaves lacking; stem leaves opposite, lanceolate to egg-shaped, unstalked or nearly so, 5-20 mm long, 2-15 mm wide, the margins curly; stipules lacking.
Flowers: Inflorescence of solitary flowers in the leaf axils; petals usually lacking; sepals usually 5, lanceolate, abruptly sharp-pointed, rarely obtuse, 3-4 mm long, prominently 3-nerved.
Fruits: Capsules straw-coloured or brownish, egg-shaped, 3.5-6 mm long, 6-valved; seeds brown, 0.7-1.1 mm long, minutely wrinkled-warty.
Moist seepage sites, meadows, streambanks, fields and forests in the lowland and montane zones; common in S and coastal BC, infrequent northward; circumpolar, N to AK and YT, E to SW AB and S to WY and CA; Eurasia.
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)
A shade-tolerant/intolerant, submontane to montane, Western North American forb distributed more in the Pacific than the Cordilleran region. Occurs on very moist to wet, nitrogen-rich soils within boreal, temperate, and cool mesothermal climates; its occurrence increases with increasing latitude and decreases with increasing elevation and continentality. Sporadic to plentiful in broad-leaved forests on water-receiving and water-collecting sites; occasionally inhabits disturbed sites. A nitrophytic species characteristic of Moder and Mull humus forms.
