Rootstock: thick, scaly, marked by the scars of bases of former petioles. Leaves: trifoliate, leaflets oblong, entire, obtuse at the apex, narrowed to the sessile base. Flowers: in a raceme borne on a long, scape-like, naked peduncle; calyx short; corolla funnel-form, five-cleft, its lobes bearded within.

This is a perennial swamp herb whose lovely white flowers and triple leaves are the glory of many a secluded mountain marsh. The face of the five white or purplish-pink divisions of the corolla are covered with soft hairs, which give the flowers a dainty feathery appearance, and inside the tube are placed the five stamens, while the style is long and projects beyond them.