Plants loosely mat- or cushion-forming (stems mostly prostrate), not stoloniferous, rhizomatous. Leaves cauline; petiole absent; blade linear to narrowly oblong, unlobed [with 2 toothlike lobes distally], 3-22 mm, succulent, margins entire, spinose-ciliate, sometimes eciliate, with 1(-5) lime-secreting hydathodes (not sunk in pits, secretions not obvious), apex obtuse or apiculate, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences 2-15-flowered cymes or thyrses, sometimes solitary flowers, 2-15[-20] cm, glabrous or clear-tipped stipitate-glandular; bracts sessile. Flowers: sepals spreading, triangular, margins eciliate, surfaces glabrous; petals yellow to orange, sometimes orange-spotted, elliptic, 3-7 mm, ± equaling or exceeding sepals; ovary 1/2 inferior. 2n = 26. Flowering early spring-early autumn. Rocky, often calcareous seepage areas, stream banks, silty flats, gravel bars and beach ridges, crevices, arctic tundra, enriched sites; 0-2000[-3000] m; Greenland; Alta., B.C., Man., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Nunavut, Ont., Que., Yukon; Alaska, Mich., N.Y., Vt.; Europe.

Matted from a branching caudex, the erect flowering stems 5-20 cm; lvs thick, linear-oblong, 1-2 cm נ2-4 mm, sessile, entire, sometimes ciliate, those of the flowering stems fewer but much like the others; cymes usually several-fld, often elongate; fls 5-8 mm wide, yellow, usually dotted with orange; 2n=26. Circumboreal, s. to Vt., w. N.Y., n. Mich., and B.C. June-Aug. (Leptasea a.)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.