Distribution: British Columbia to California, east to Wyoming; uncommon in the Olympic Mountains and the Willamette Valley

Habitat: Rocky ground in sagebrush deserts and Ponderosa pine forests to subalpine ridges

Flowers: May - July

Origin: Native

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Glabrous perennial herbs from rhizomes, with numerous sterile shoots, the flowering stems erect to ascending, up to 2 dm. tall.

Leaves alternate, linear or narrowly linear-lanceolate, keeled or nerved, narrowly tapered to a sharp tip, 5-15 mm. long, deciduous by flowering, except the decumbent branches have many leaves persistent, sometimes only the mid-ribs remaining; upper cauline leaves sometimes persistent and bearing bulblet-like structures.

Flowers in compact cymes; sepals 5, lanceolate, 2 mm. long; petals 5, yellow, 6-8 mm. long, spreading, lanceolate, acuminate and ending in a sharp point; stamens 10, 1.5-2.5 mm. shorter than the petals, 5 attached to the base of the petals. Occasionally some or all of the flowers are reduced to bulblets.

Follicles 5, widely divergent.