Distribution: Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Montana and Nevada.

Habitat: Drier areas from low elevation sagebrush deserts to middle elevations in the mountains.

Flowers: April-June

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bumblebees, bees

Mostly glabrous perennial from a shallow, tuberous-thickened root, the few stems 0.5-2.5 dm. tall.

Basal leaves often none, with a petiolate, broadly elliptic blade when present; cauline leaves few, the lowermost strongly reduced, the others well-developed, sessile, 2-6 cm. long and 0.5-3 cm. wide, 1.5 to 4 times as long as wide.

Inflorescence congested, many-flowered, terminal; calyx cleft to the middle; corolla blue, 5-lobed, 1.5-2.5 cm. long, the tube 2 to 3 times as long as the limb; filaments broad, longer than the anthers; style equaling the corolla lobes; nutlets attached to the lower half of the style; hairy appendages opposite the corolla lobes at the top of the tube.

4 nutlets