Distribution: Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains.

Habitat: Dry, open places in the plains and foothills, often in lithosol, occasionally to moderate elevations in the mountains.

Flowers: April-June

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Butterflies, moths

Tap-rooted, mat-forming perennial, usually with loose hairs, especially on the leaf margins and calyx.

Leaves narrowly linear, firm and sharp pointed, 4-10 mm. long and about 0.5 mm. wide.

Flowers solitary and sessile at the ends of the stems; calyx with flat, papery intervals between the herbaceous segments, obscured by the pubescence, the 5 lobes narrow and firm, the midrib thickened; corolla white to blue or pink, the tube 4-10 mm. long, the 5 lobes 4-7 mm. long; style 3-parted, 4-7 mm. long; ovary superior.

Capsule 3-celled, with one seed in each cell.