Low plant, about a foot tall. Leaves all from the base of the plant, with 5-7 shallow lobes and irregular teeth. Flowers white, on a long stalk, with five white petals and 5 narrower white sepals. Long stamens with yellow pollen add a sparkle of gold. The multiple parts give the flower a foamy look. Blooms in mid-spring. Fruit a peculiar seed-pod of two unequal parts, looking like a melon in a shallow bowl; splits open to release the seeds. Some authors claim the genus name ("little tiara") refers to the shape of the fruit.

Lovely native of rich woods and streambanks. In Wildwood there is a single known population along Connelly's Run.

The foamy white flowers on long stalks make this easy to identify. Miterwort (Mitella diphylla) is somewhat similar, but easily distinguished when one looks carefully; it has two leaves on the flowerstalk and flowers made foamy by intricately dissected petals.