Orogenia Linearifolia, Great Basin Indian Potato

Orogenia linearifolia is a small-growing species, just a few inches tall and essentially stemless, and it flowers only briefly, in spring, generally when the surroundings are still relatively barren following melting of the winter snow. All parts are hairless; plants produce a single, leafless flower stalk and two or three basal leaves, these usually divided into three narrow leaflets, often slightly folded up along the margins. Leaves have short stalks.

The inflorescence is a compact, compound umbel, typically with three or four rays; each individual cluster is somewhat flat-topped, and contains around a dozen or more small white flowers - these have five obovate petals and five stamens, with white filaments and purple stamens. There are no bracts at the base of the umbel, and no bractlets underneath the clusters. The fruits are light green, egg-shaped pods lined with faint ridges.