Taproots cormlike, globose. Stems lax to erect, 3-11 cm. Leaves: basal leaves withering before anthesis, ± sessile, blade narrowly linear to filiform, subcylindric, 1-6 cm, margins entire, apex obtuse to subacute; cauline leaves 2-3(-5), paired or whorled, blade similar to basal leaves, 10-50 mm. Inflorescences usually subumbellate to paniculate cymes, (1-)3-25-flowered; bracts 2 per flower, ovate to lanceolate, 1-5 mm, margins entire, apex obtuse to subacute. Flowers pedicellate, not disarticulate in fruit; sepals 2, ovate, 2-4 mm, herbaceous, margins entire, apex rounded to obtuse; petals 5-9, white or pinkish with darker veins, elliptic-obovate to elliptic-ovate, 4-7 mm; stamens (3-)4(-5); stigmas 3-5; pedicel 5-15(-25) mm. Capsules 3-4 mm. Seeds 8-25, 1 mm, shiny, shallowly tuberculate.

Flowering late spring-summer. Open places, sandy to gravelly soils, sometimes alpine meadows, usually near melting snow; 1500-3300 m; B.C.; Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nev., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.