Distribution: Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington, but also known from the Puget Sound area; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains.

Habitat: Common in vernally moist meadows, especially in sagebrush and Ponderosa pine forests.

Flowers: May-July

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bumblebees, bees, flies, hummingbirds

Herbaceous perennials from thick rhizomes, the simple flowering stems 2-4 dm. tall, leafless.

Leaves basal, linear, 2-4 dm. long and 5-12 mm broad.

Flowers usually 2, pale to deep blue, purple-lined, subtended by a pair of involucral leaves; pedicels stout, up to 6 cm. long; perianth parts fused in a tube at the base, the tube 5-8 mm. long; sepals 3, oblanceolate, 5-6 cm. long, spreading and reflexed; petals 3, shorter and narrower than the sepals, erect; stamens 3, opposite the sepals; style branches 3, 20-25mm. long, with 2 terminal lobes about as long; stigma broad and slightly notched; ovary inferior.

Capsule 3-celled, spindle-shaped, leathery, 3-5 cm. long.