Fls small, in condensed, few-fld, minutely bracteate fascicles at the branch-tips; sep 5, 2 merely blunt, 3 with sharply marked, expanded, white-hyaline scarious, rounded and distally notched tip; pet 5, white, clawed, minutely toothed or entire, subpersistent, barely surpassing the sep; stamens 3-5; style trifid above a short but evident undivided basal portion; capsule 3-valved; seeds few, on a short free-central placenta; short- lived, taprooted, slender, rigidly and angularly (often subdichotomously) branched, glabrous plants with small lvs in an overwintering basal rosette, the cauline lvs reduced to tiny scales at the nodes. (Monospecific, se. U.S.)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.