Bitterroot occurs only east of the Cascade divide on gravelly to dry sagebrush plains to outcrops on lower mountains. The basal leaves are small and straplike, and they are often dried and withered by the time the flower blooms. The flowering stem is very short so that the large single flower appears to be growing right out of the ground. The flowers have 4-9 sepals and 12-15 white to rose pink petals.