Western starflower

Alsinanthemum europaeum (Linnaeus) Greene var. latifolium (Hooker) Greene; Trientalis borealis Rafinesque subsp. latifolia (Hooker) Hultén; T. europaea Linnaeus var. latifolia (Hooker) Torrey

Stems 10-25 cm. Leaves mostly whorled at stem apex, some alternate on proximal stem; blades of distal leaves elliptic to suborbiculate, (2.4-)4-11 cm × 15-55 mm (narrower in some plants along Vancouver Island and Washington coast), widest ± at midlength (proximal leaves abruptly much smaller, 0.1-0.5 cm × 0.7-1.3 mm, ± scalelike), apex rounded to acute. Pedicels 1-5, 2.9-4.6 cm, shorter than to equaling leaves (sometimes longer in fruit), glabrous or sparsely glandular. Flowers: corolla pink, rose, or pinkish lavender, 4.5-8.8 mm, lobes ovate to lanceolate, apex acuminate or abruptly acute.

Flowering summer. Moist coniferous forests, stream banks, ocean cliffs; 0-1500 m; B.C., Yukon; Calif., Idaho, Oreg., Wash.

In British Columbia, Trientalis latifolia is known from scattered populations along the coast and the American border. Specimens from a disjunct population in central Yukon (E. Hultén 1968; W. J. Cody 1996) were not examined.