Forming small mats with short, sterile stems from a branched caudex. Stems prostrate to ascending, densely leafy at the base; fertile stems 2–6 cm, glabrous. Leaves glabrous, succulent, ciliate, spatulate, 3–7 mm long. Inflorescence of 1 to 3 flowers. Flowers: calyx saucer-shaped with lobes spreading, 2–3 mm long, glabrous; hypanthium <0.5 mm long; petals oblong, 3–5 mm long, white; ovary slightly inferior. Capsule 5–9 mm long (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Open, moist, gravelly soil of slopes and rock ledges in the alpine and subalpine zones.