General: Perennial herb from slender rhizomes; stems decumbent to ascending, several, branched, matted, 4-angled, glabrous except minutely rough-hairy above, 3-40 cm tall/long.
Leaves: Basal leaves few, reduced, soon deciduous; stem leaves opposite, unstalked, linear to linear-lanceolate, 1.5-5.0 cm long, 1-4 mm wide, glabrous or with a few basal hairs on the margins, the margins very finely roughly-pimpled (at 30X).
Flowers: Inflorescence of solitary flowers, or a few to several flowers in an open cluster; petals 5, white, 2-cleft, 1.0-1.2 mm long; sepals 5, narrowly-elliptic to lanceolate, 3-4 mm long, usually glabrous,3-nerved.
Fruits: Capsules greenish-yellow, oblong, 4-6 mm long, 6-valved; seeds 0.8-0.9 mm long, reddish-brown, lightly roughened.
Wet to moist meadows, marshes, streamsides and road banks in the lowland and montane zones; frequent in N and E BC; circumpolar, N to AK, YT, NT, E to NF and S to SC, NM, AZ, CA and MX; 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)
