Authors: Nutt.
(syn. P. douglasii var. caespitosa). Cushion-forming to 10cm high and twice as wide. Leaves narrowly awl-shaped, cuspidate, fairly coarsely ciliate, sometimes sparingly pilose, 7-13mm long. Flowers solitary, sometimes in twos and threes, 1-1.5cm in diameter, lavender to white, fragrant, spring to early summer. Mainly Montana to Utah and Colorado but also in northwestern and adjacent California, on open rocky slopes at 1300-4000m. P.c. pulvinata forms lower cushions to 5cm high and has somewhat larger flowers. P.c. platyphylla has elliptic-lanceolate to oblong leaves but is otherwise like caespitosa itself. P.c. condensata (syn. P. condensata) is even more condensed than pulvinata, the cushions 2-4cm high with leaves 5-10mm long, adpressed to the stem and flowers always white, 7-12mm wide. [Pl.348].
Locklear (2012) recognises P.condensata and P.pulvinata as species and has no subspecies or varieties under P.caespitosa.
