Starts as a low rosette of tongue-shaped basal leaves, becoming 6 to 15 inches tall. Upper leaves with a few large teeth near the base. Flowers tiny, in a dense cluster, with a circle of green bracts behind the cluster. Each flower with five pale blue petals. Blooms in the spring.

A common weed from Europe; formerly a common garden weed harvested for greens. In Wildwood quite common along Connelly's Run, especially in the vicinity of the North Bridge.

Northern corn salad, V. umbilicata, is a similar, but taller, native with larger, white flowers. It is not known from the Park, but has been reported from Montgomery County.