Plants perennial. Stems prostrate, well branched, forming small mats, elongate, viscid-pubescent. Leaves: petiole 1-2 cm; blade orbiculate-oval, 0.4-1 × 0.3-0.5 cm, margins entire, plane, surfaces glandular-pubescent. Inflorescences: peduncle shorter than subtending petiole; bracts lanceolate to ovate, 2-3 × 1-2 mm, papery, glandular-pubescent; flowers 1-5. Perianth: tube whitish, 10-18 mm, limb white to lavender-pink, 6-8 mm diam. Fruits narrowly obovate in profile, 3-4 × 2-3 mm, thin, coriaceous, apex broadly conic; wings absent or 5-angled.

Flowering summer. Sandy soils, alpine meadows; of conservation concern; 2600-3000 m; Calif.