Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Strongly to weakly cespitose perennial herbs.

Stems: Stems erect, inconspicuously striate, 0.8–70 dm long.

Roots: Fibrous root system.

Leaves: Leaves simple. Primarily basal, 1–2(3) per stem. Blades linear, 5–30 cm long, 1–10 mm wide. Apex mucronate. Margins densely pubescent, especially when young, often glabrate with age. Petioles absent. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers (2)3–8(–10) in subglobose glomerules subtended by papery or scarious bracts, forming cymose, terminal inflorescences, sometimes with a smaller, lateral inflorescence at the next lower node in the axil of a single foliar bract 4–15 cm long, bracts subtending inflorescence 1–4, foliaceous, 2–10 cm long, shorter than, equaling, or slightly longer than inflorescence, each flower subtended by 2–3(4) acuminate bracteoles with laciniate to subentire margins. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Perianth parts pale yellowish brown to dark brown, linear, subulate, margins narrow, hyaline, outer ones 2.5–4.5 mm long, inner ones 2–3.5 mm long; stamens shorter than perianth. Stamens 6; anthers equaling or longer than filaments. Pollen grains remaining in tetrads, surrounded by a common exine. Ovary superior, sessile, 1-celled, placentation basal; ovules 3, anatropous; styles about as long as ovary.

Fruit: Capsules pale brown to reddish brown; glossy; trigonous; oblong or ovoid; shorter than perianth. Seeds red to dark brown; ellipsoid to ovoid; 1–2 mm long; surfaces rugulose; often with white micropylar caruncle and conical protuberance at apex.

Ploidy: 2n = 14*; 24* (H); 16* (O); 38*; 42* (K)

Habitat: Occurring in open or rocky sites; slopes; cliffs; and ridges; and open areas in mesic forest and shrubland; also in subalpine forest; shrubland; and grassland.

Elevation Range: 730–2,560 m.