Plants 5-15 cm. Rosette leaf blades 4.2-9 × 1.5-2.5 mm. Flowers: sepals 2-4 mm; petals 6-9 mm.

Flowering spring-fall. Gravel, crevices of rocks in open situations, rocky meadows, boreal steppe, open, dry, sandy areas; 0-4100 m; Alta., B.C., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nebr., Nev., N.Mex., Oreg., S.Dak., Utah, Wash., Wyo.

The name Sedum lanceolatum Torrey var. subalpinum (Fröderström) Ohba is illegitimate because there was already a heterotypic infraspecific name [subsp. subalpinum (Blankinship) R. T. Clausen] under the species although at a different rank.