Taprooted, forming loose to dense mats. Stems prostrate to ascending, 3–12 cm, glabrous or sparsely hirsute and glandular. Leaves firm to succulent, linear, 8–25 mm long, glabrous to glandular-puberulent, often ciliate. Flowers solitary; calyx glabrate to glandular-villous, 6–12 mm long with flat intercostal membranes; corolla white to blue, the tube 9–16 mm long, lobes 5–9 mm long; style 4–7 mm long (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Our plants are varieties
kelseyi and
missoulensis (Wherry) Cronquist.
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 flavifrons,
Bombus melanopygus,
Bombus pensylvanicus,
Bombus bimaculatus,
Bombus griseocollis,
Bombus impatiens, and
Bombus kirbiellus (Shaw and Taylor 1986, Colla and Dumesh 2010).