Long-lived, low growing perennial with diffusely branching root crown (caudex) forming mounded clumps 1-3 dm in diameter; herbage densely covered with overlapping gear-shaped (stellate-discoid) trichomes; stems 3-10 cm long; basal leaves narrowly oblanceolate to broadly spatulate, acute or blunt at tips, 3-8 cm long; stem leaves narrow and smaller than basal leaves; inflorescence a few-flowered raceme, 2.5-5 cm long; pedicels 6-11 mm long; flowers about 10 mm wide, petals 4, yellow; fruits (silicles) papery with sharp-angled edges, about 10 mm wide and almost as long, X-shaped in cross-section and with a deep V-shaped notch at the apex; fruiting styles slender, 5-9 mm long. Flowers April and May.