Herbs 3–25(–45) cm. Stems usually dark purplish to reddish brown; branches, if any, and pedicels moderately ascending. Leaves: basal usually persistent, blades spatulate to elliptic-oblanceolate, 1–2 cm × 2–5 mm, apex obtuse; cauline blades narrowly ovate to narrowly lanceolate, 1–3.8 cm × 1.5–6(–10) mm, apex obtuse to acute. Flowers: calyx lobes acute; corollas pale to med­ium violet-blue, rarely whitish.

Flowering summer. Wet seaside meadows, occa­sionally around salt springs, consistently near coast in the flora area, estuarine marshes, rock crevices at high-tide mark, moist sand or silt substrate in tidal estuaries; 0–20 m; Greenland; Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., Nunavut, Ont., Que., Yukon; Alaska, Maine; Eurasia.