Authors:
(syn. P. piperi, P. caespitosa var. rigida). Mat to low cushion-forming with flowering stems to 10cm or more high. Leaves awl-shaped, about 1cm or a little more long, sparingly ciliate and somewhat pilose to almost glabrous, usually deep green. Flowers about 1.5cm across, the obovate petals lavender, pink or white, pungently fragrant, solitary or in twos and threes, late spring to summer. Washington State to California and Montana, on limestone rock ledges, gravelly slopes and clayey flats at high altitudes. P.d. rigida syn. P. rigida is hummock-forming 2.5-7.5cm high, with glandular cilia and flowers only pink or white and lightly scented. P.d hendersonii, syn. P. condensata var. hendersonii, forms a compact cushion 3-6cm high, the leaves with glandular hairs on their surfaces and flowers 1cm across (Cascade Mountains only, above the tree line). Under the douglasii name many cultivars are commercially available, all mat-forming and very free-flowering; many are undoubtedly of hybrid origin with P. subulata and other species, in particular those with richer-hued, notched petals.
Locklear (2012) does not recognise any subspeciesbut treats P.hendersonii as a species.
