[2][3] It was first found by Sir John Richardson in 1826 during an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage.

[3] The plant arises from a tuft of basal leaves, with white flowers arranged in dense clusters.

[5] It occurs on bluffs and dry uplands composed of sandy and clay loam.

Its range is limited to the unglaciated portions of Cape Bathurst and Baillie Islands on the shore of the Beaufort Sea in the Northwest Territories, and it is listed at G2 - imperiled by NatureServe[1] and endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

[6] Its chief threats are loss of habitat through rapid coastal erosion and saline wash from storm surges, and by melting permafrost.