Plants solitary or in clumps, short-rhizomatous. Leaves basal; petiole often indistinct, flattened, 5-50 mm; blade elliptic to obovate, 4-12 cm, slightly fleshy, base cuneate, margins serrate to dentate, densely ciliate, surfaces densely tangled-hairy. Inflorescences 70+-flowered, open, lax, flat-topped thyrses, 15-35 cm, tangled, yellow-tipped stipitate-glandular. Flowers: sepals reflexed, elliptic to ovate; petals white, not spotted, elliptic, clawed, 2-5 mm, longer than sepals; filaments linear, flattened; pistils connate to 1/2 their lengths; ovary 1/2 inferior, appearing more superior in fruit. Capsules greenish to reddish purple, folliclelike. 2n = 76. Flowering late spring-summer. Wet rocks and ledges on mountain-top balds; of conservation concern; 600-1100 m; Oreg. Micranthes hitchcockiana may have originated from hybridization between M. rufidula and M. oregana (P. E. Elvander 1984; W. E. Perkins 1978).