Taprooted perennial herbs. Stems sparsely pubescent, glandular, ascending, 10–15 cm long. Leaf blades glabrous, ovate to lanceolate, 1–3 cm long. Inflorescence axillary, long-stemmed clusters subtended by 5 separate, ovate involucral bracts 5–10 mm long. Flowers: calyx white, corolla-like, salverform, ca. 12 mm long with 5 bilobed lobes; stamens ca. 5, included; style included; stigma linear. Fruit broadly conical, pubescent, ca. 6 mm long with 3- to 5-veined wings above. MT has varieties fragrans and elliptica (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).