Plants candelabra-form, 10–30 cm. Basal leaves persisting; petiole present or absent; blade linear-lanceolate to linear, margins usually moderately to shallowly lobed, rarely entire. Cauline leaves: petiole present or absent (proximal leaves), absent (distal leaves); blade linear-lanceolate to linear (proximal leaves), ovate to linear (distal leaves), to 13 cm, margins usually moderately to shallowly lobed, rarely entire. Bracts green, sometimes with white base, ovate, 3–4.1 × 1.1–1.7 mm, width 1/4–1/2 length, not concealing capsule, margins entire. Flowers: sepals 2–3 mm; petals orange proximally, yellow distally, 2–4 mm, apex retuse or rounded; stamens 10–30, 2–3 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed; styles 2–3 mm. Capsules cylindric or clavate, 6–15 × 2–3 mm, axillary curved to 20° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. Seeds 15–30, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, not dark-mottled, usually irregularly polygonal, occasionally triangular prisms proximal to mid fruit, surface colliculate under 10× magnification; recurved flap over hilum absent; seed coat cell outer periclinal wall domed, domes on seed edges less than 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity. 2n = 54.
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