occidentale is native to western North America from British Columbia to Colorado to California, where it can be found in moist areas of many habitat types, including meadows and woodlands.

lacustre, which is known only from a total of three counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and is found only in white cedar swamp habitat there.

[2] This is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing an erect stem up to one meter tall.

The inflorescence is an open, elongated array of several bell-shaped, five-lobed flowers each up to 1.5 centimeters long.

lacustre faces threats including peat mining in its swamp habitat, herbivory by deer, and alterations in the local hydrology where it grows.