Canby’s mountain-lover, rat-stripper, cliff green Canby’s mountain-lover, rat-stripper, cliff green

Shrubs 1–4 dm. Stems diffuse, creeping. Leaves: petiole absent; blade usually linear to narrowly elliptic, rarely oblanceolate, 5–20 × 2–4 mm, base obtuse, margins serrulate, apex obtuse. Inflorescences 1–5-flowered. Flowers: sepals obtuse-deltate, 0.8–1 mm; petals obovate, 1.5 mm; filaments shorter than anthers. Capsules ellipsoid, 3–4 × 1.5–2 mm. Seeds black, ellipsoid; aril yellow or white.

Flowering spring; fruiting summer. Limestone cliffs, shaded banks, dry gravelly soils; of conservation concern; 0–600 m; Ky., Md., N.C., Ohio, Pa., Tenn., Va., W.Va.

There are only about 50 to 60 extant populations of Paxistima canbyi.