Hitchcock, in his popular flora, the "Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest" classifies this species as variety debilis. Cronquist, in the more recent "Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West" asserts that variety debilis is found east of our area and that the Pacific Northwest variety is trifida.
Alpine collomia is an interesting and pretty wildflower which might be suitable for rock gardens. It is a perennial with a deep taproot which helps protect it from being pushed down slopes as talus shifts. Plants form mats with numerous sprawling, simple to much-branched stems and close clusters of leaves. The stems range from 10-30 cm long. The herbage of the leaves of the stems and leaves varies from covered with minute, short hairs to glandular hairy (Note the glandular hairs on the leaves in the photo at right.). Individual leaves are short petiolate with obovate blades which are entire or with 3 deep lobes near the tip. The blades range from 1-2.5 cm long and up to 13 mm wide.
The flowers are sessile or short-petiolate in small, leafy bracted clusters at the ends of the stems. The showy corollas are tubular near the base, the 5 lobes spreading and somewhat funnel-like (See photos on this page.). Flowers are white to lavender and typically 15-25 mm long. The 5 stamens are nearly as long as the corolla lobes, or even slightly longer, which may confuse botanists into misidentifying it as a species of waterleaf. The style may also be shorter to longer than the corolla lobes.
Alpine collomia is found on unstable talus slopes at higher elevations in the mountains.
Alpine collomia is found from the mountains of central and northeastern Oregon east into central Idaho and south into Elko County, Nevada. It evidently may also be found in the Cascade Mts. of Washington.
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