Herbs with caudices. Stems 10–60 cm. Leaves: basal in rosettes; petiole 1.5–17 cm; blade (of larger leaves) oblong to orbiculate-ovate, 20–70 × 10–50 mm, <longer than to ca. as long as wide>, base cuneate to subcordate, apex obtuse to subacute; cauline on proximal 1/2 of stem or absent. Flowers: sepals reflexed in fruit, oblong, elliptic, or ovate, 2.5–5 mm, margins hyaline, 0.2–0.5 mm wide, entire, apex rounded; petals 5–12-veined, oblong to ovate, 9–18 × 6–10 mm, length 2–4 times sepals, base cuneate to rounded, margins entire or undulate; stamens 7–10 mm; anthers 1.2–2.8 mm; staminodes 3-fid almost to base, gland-tipped, 4–7 mm, shorter than to ca. equaling stamens, apical glands elliptic-oblong to subreniform, 0.3–0.7 mm; ovary green. Capsules 12–14 mm. 2n = 32.

Flowering summer–early fall. Seasonally wet meadows, shores, fens, ditches, seeps, wet, calcareous soils; 50–700 m; Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), Ont., Que., Sask.; Conn., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Vt., Wis.

The name Parnassia caroliniana has been misapplied to this species (for example, N. L. Britton and A. Brown 1913).