General: Perennial herb from a short, stout rhizome; flowering stems robust, erect, 0.7-2 m tall, often clustered, unbranched, leafy and short-hairy to woolly throughout or smooth in lower half.
Leaves: Stem leaves numerous, broadly egg-shaped to oblong-elliptic, 10-35 cm long, 5-15 cm wide, becoming smaller and narrower towards the inflorescence, prominently ribbed (accordion-pleated), smooth above, densely hairy beneath, unstalked or nearly so, clasping at the base, the margins entire; basal leaves lacking.
Flowers: Inflorescence a branched terminal cluster, the branches elongate, narrow, densely hairy, and at least the lower drooping, of numerous, stalked flowers, the stalks 2-3 (5) mm long, turning up as the flowers open; flowers pale green or yellow-green, with dark green centres, star-shaped, of 6 similar, distinct tepals, the tepals narrowly lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, 6-13 mm long, somewhat woolly-hairy on the outside, the margins minutely toothed to fringed; stamens 6; pistil 1, 3-chambered.
Fruits: Capsules, barrel-shaped, 3-lobed, erect, 1.5-3 cm long, mostly smooth; seeds numerous, flat, broadly winged, 8-10 mm long.
Moist to wet meadows, streambanks, swamps, thickets and open forests from the lowland to alpine zones; common throughout all but NE BC, especially southward; N to AK, YT and NT, E to AB and S to WY, ID and CA, also disjunct in PQ, Labr, NB and NS and the E U.S. (ME and NY south to GA and AL).
