Plants solitary or in groups, with bulbils on caudices. Leaves basal; petiole ± indistinct, (broad), flattened, 3-15 cm; blade lanceolate to oblanceolate, 4-35 cm, thin, base attenuate, margins irregularly serrate to dentate, ciliate, surfaces sparsely hairy. Inflorescences (30-)50+-flowered, very open, lax thyrses, 30-75 cm, pink- to purplish-tipped stipitate-glandular; (bracts gradually smaller distally). Flowers: sepals strongly reflexed, oblong; petals white, with 2 basal yellow spots that sometimes appear as 1 (sometimes faded in dried material), ± elliptic to spatulate, clawed, 2-3 mm, longer than sepals; filaments strongly club-shaped; pistils distinct almost to base; ovary superior, (to 1/3 adnate to hypanthium). Capsules green, sometimes purplish, folliclelike. 2n = 22.

Flowering spring. Rocky seepage slopes, stream banks; 400-2100 m; Ga., Ky., Md., N.C., Pa., S.C., Va., W.Va.

Micranthes micranthidifolia was formerly gathered by local people in the southern Appalachians as a spring 'green' (hence the common name, 'branch' being dialect for a small stream); it is still occasionally seen in local grocery stores.

Stems 3-8 dm from a short, stout rhizome, branched above, with a large, open infl; blades of the basal lvs oblanceolate to oblong, 3-8 times as long as wide, mostly 8-20 cm, gradually tapering to a winged petiole, sharply and saliently toothed, each tooth terminating in a minute, slender mucro; fls 6 mm wide; sep reflexed; pet oval, white, with a yellow spot near the base; filaments clavate; seeds not spinulose; 2n=22. Wet cliffs and mt. brooks; e. Pa. to Va., W.Va., and N.C. May, June. (Micranthes m.)

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

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