Slender to thread-like stems just a few inches long, trailing or erect; sometimes clumpy in form; may root at the nodes; leaves are narrow, less than 1 inch long; solitary, small 5-petaled white flowers; petals usually shorter than the sepals.
Small, inconspicuous; diffuse often matted stems; narrow leaves; flowers small, often white, sepals and petals 5, rarely 4; petals usually shorter than sepals, smooth margined; fruit a capsule that splits longitudinally when mature.
Habitat
Montane sites, open or light shade, wet places on lake margins, along streams and seeps in rock ledges and road cuts, subalpine and alpine zones.
Flower Characteristics
Solitary, small white flowers; petals usually shorter than the sepals; axillary or terminal, 5 petals, very rarely 4 petals; sepals elliptic, <1 inch long, margins white, rarely purple in alpine specimens, tip blunt to rounded.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Basal leaves frequently in rosettes, blades narrow, not succulent, tip pointed, not hairy; stem leaves not fused at their base.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Capsule often becomes twice as long as the sepals.
Seeds brown, obliquely triangular with a distinct groove on the underside, smooth to slightly bumpy.