In spring and early summer these showy flowers pop up from shaded forest floors with 6–18-inch tall stems topped with rounded clusters of pinkish-white flowers. Note the 1–2 pairs of widely-spaced, opposite stem leaves with slender, pointed lobes.

FLOWERS: April–July. Dense, spherical clusters on short, radiating branches at the stem apex with pinkish-white, funnel-shaped flowers; floral tube 3/8–5/8-inch long (10–15 mm), throat hairy, with 5 spreading oval lobes; style and 3 stamens extend beyond throat. A whorl of leaf-like bracts grows just below the bloom cluster.

LEAVES: Basal and opposite on stem. Basal leaves on long stems (petioles), blades oval to elliptic, 2-inches long (5 cm), often with 1–3 pairs of smaller basal lobes along the midrib. Stem leaves similar, opposite, clasping; divided into lance-shaped lobes to 2 1/2-inches long (6.3 cm); stem has only 1-2 pairs of leaves.

HABITAT: Moist gravel loam soils; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-Douglas fir, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 6,300–10,500 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Sharpleaf Valerian, V. acutiloba, in much the same range and habitat, has smaller flowers with flora tubes to 1/4-inch long (6 mm), and oval to spatula-shaped basal leaves.

NM COUNTIES: Statewide in mid- to high-elevation moist, mountain habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Mora, Otero, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Valencia.