The yellow flowers have five petals and measure about a quarter inch wide.

[3] This shrub grows in sandy habitat such as pine barrens and dunes.

The plant is associated with green sands colonized with nitrogen fixing blue-green algae, particularly in Alberta.

[3] These algae may give nutrients to the shrub, allowing it to grow in nutrient-poor sand soils.

[4] This plant "requires periodic disturbance," however, it is "very sensitive to human impacts," such as trampling.