Stems spreading to erect, 0.5–1.5 cm; nodal spines few or lacking. Twigs mostly glabrous, tan becoming gray. Leaf blades 2–6 cm wide, cordate to truncate, 3- to 5-lobed, deeply crenate, mostly glabrous, sometimes ciliate. Inflorescence spreading, 1- to 4-flowered. Flowers campanulate, green to purplish, 6–9 mm long, usually glabrous; calyx lobes lanceolate, 3–4 mm long; petals 1–2 mm long, white to pink; stamens ca. twice as long as the petals; styles hairy, united less than half the length. Berry reddish-purple, 5–9 mm long, glabrous, edible (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Open forest, thickets, aspen woodlands, rocky slopes, often along streams, lakes, wetlands; valleys, montane (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap:
Bombus vagans,
Bombus bifarius,
Bombus centralis,
Bombus fervidus,
Bombus flavifrons,
Bombus huntii,
Bombus melanopygus,
Bombus mixtus,
Bombus nevadensis,
Bombus terricola,
Bombus sitkensis,
Bombus occidentalis,
Bombus pensylvanicus,
Bombus bimaculatus,
Bombus impatiens,
Bombus insularis, and
Bombus flavidus (Plath 1934, Thorp et al. 1983, Colla and Dumesh 2010, Koch et al. 2012, Williams et al. 2014).