Plant: annual herb; 6-20 cm tall

Leaves: 3-12 cm long, 0.8-2.7 cm wide, sessile, elliptic or somewhat obovate to lanceolate; margins dentate or lobed to pinnatifid, rarely entire; upper leaves with a broad to somewhat clasping base. BRACTS 1-2, elliptic to lanceolate, green, not obscuring ovary

INFLORESCENCE: cymose

Flowers: pedicellate; petals white to cream, 1.2-5.2 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide; staminodia 0; stamens 80-100, outer filaments broadened and 3-toothed at apex; style 8-15 mm long; papillae of stigmas conspicuous

Fruit: CAPSULES 0.7-2 cm long, at least the first to mature reflexing 90-180 degrees. SEEDS horizontal, not winged, mostly obovate, not compressed, submedian constriction usually pronounced, the hilum end a folded flap; testa cells with straight adjoining walls, the surface walls tuberculate

Misc: Rocky slopes, washes, roadsides; 200-750 m (600-2500 ft); Feb-May

REFERENCES: Christy, Charlotte M. 1998. Loasaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. 30(2): 96.