General: Perennial herb from a short root stalk, without stolons, plants up to 15 cm tall; stems lacking.
Leaves: Basal leaves heart- to kidney-shaped, the blades 1.5-3.5 cm long, 2-6 cm wide, toothed, smooth or hairy, especially beneath, the stalks 3-15 cm long, hairy; stem leaves lacking; stipules lanceolate, 3-10 mm long, toothed.
Flowers: Inflorescence of single, axillary flowers; petals 5, white, the lower petal 10-15 mm long including the 1- to 1.5-mm long spur, the lower 3 purplish-pencilled, beardless; sepals 5, lanceolate; style heads smooth, slightly bilobed.
Fruits: Capsules, nearly globular, smooth, usually purple; seeds brown.
Mesic to moist woodlands, open forests, streambanks, swamps and meadows in the montane and subalpine zones; infrequent throughout BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, rare on C Vancouver Island; N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to ME, NH, PA, MI, MN, SD, CO and ID.
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)
