Plants perennial, with stout, woody caudices; periderm beige to reddish when dried, 1-20 mm. Stems 5-40 cm. Leaves: basal leaves flaring at base into broad, membranous sheath, or sheath absent, blade linear to linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, 5-18 × 0.3-1.4 cm, apex acute; cauline leaves sessile or petiolate, blade linear to lanceolate, 1-4 × 0.5-1 cm, apex acute. Inflorescences multibracteate; bracts linear to subulate, 5-10 mm, apex acute. Flowers 10-18 mm diam.; sepals 6-12 mm, apex acute; petals white or pink to bright rose with yellow blotches at base, or white, 10-14 × 4-10 mm; ovules 6. Seeds 2-6, 2-3 mm diam., shiny and smooth to tuberculate; elaiosome 1-2 mm. 2n = 32.

Flowering Jun-Aug. Marshy ground in moss and lichen tundra and alder and birch thickets, scree and talus of mountain slopes; 0-2000 m; Alaska; Eurasia (Russia).