Plants loosely mat-forming, (stems trailing), not stolon-iferous, rhizomatous, with caudex. Leaves cauline (crowded proximally); petiole absent; blade spatulate, unlobed, 2-7 mm, leathery, margins entire, densely glandular-ciliate, apex rounded or obtuse, not or short-mucronate, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences 3-6-flowered cymes, 2-6.5 cm, pink- to purple-tipped stipitate-glandular; bracts sessile. Flowers: sepals erect to ascending, ovate to oblong, margins eciliate or glandular-ciliate, surfaces glabrous; petals white to cream, yellow-spotted, sometimes sparsely red-spotted proximally, elliptic to obovate, 3-4 mm, longer than sepals; ovary superior. 2n = 26.
Flowering summer. Rocky slopes and ledges, gravelly flats; 0-800 m; Alaska; Asia (Kamchatka, Siberia).