The flower is greenish white, turning reddish as it ages with five petals and five sepals.

The leathery, greyish green, rhomboidal leaves make up a rosette at the base of the stem and lie close to the soil surface, and are only sparsely haired.

[4] This species is also found in Norway, Ireland, Svalbard, northern Germany, Poland, Russia, Canada, Alaska and Greenland.

[3][5] The plant was first described by Carl Linnaeus in Flora Lapponica (1737), as a result of his expedition to Lapland.

[6] Some populations from the Canadian Province of Quebec have been recognized as a distinct species by some authors,[7][8] but as a variety of M. nivalis by others:[9][10] is distinguished from var.