Plants perennial, densely ces-pitose, cushion-forming; caudex much-branched, woody. Stems prostrate, much-branched, 5-10 cm, puberulent. Leaves: stipules ovate, 3-6 mm, apex subobtuse, entire; blade narrowly elliptic-oblong or oblong to narrowly elliptic-oblanceolate, 2-5 × 0.2-1.8(-2) mm, fleshy, apex obtuse to subacute, glabrous. Flowers mostly solitary at end of shoots, almost concealed by leaves. Flowers 5-merous, elliptic-oblong, with enlarged hypanthium and calyx straight to tapering distally, 2.5-2.8 mm, densely appressed-puberulent, sparsely so distally; sepals whitish to green, veins absent, narrowly oblong to ovate-oblong, 1.5-1.7 mm, papery to herbaceous, margins white, 0.2-0.3 mm wide, papery, apex with subterminal awn, hood ascending as continuation of sepal, broadly rounded to notched, awn erect, white, 0.3-0.6(-1) mm, ± glabrous spine; staminodes filiform, 0.7-0.9 mm; style 1, cleft in distal 3, 0.8-1 mm. Utricles ovoid, 1.3-1.5 mm, smooth, glabrous. 2n = 32.

Flowering summer. Rocky slopes and summit screes in alpine regions; 3300-4200 m; Colo., Utah, Wyo.