Flower:

Tightly packed flat clusters of a few to many flowers at the end of a slender stalk, at the end top of the plant. Individual flowers are white to pinkish, 1/8 to ¼ inch across, tubular with 5 pointed lobes that flare out, giving it a star shape. The inside of the tube is green and holds 5 yellow stamens. A plant may branch, with clusters at the end of branching stems.

Leaves and stem:

Leaves are lance-elliptic, toothless, hairless, ½ to 2 inches long and 1/8 to ¾ inch wide, with a pointed or blunt tip and little or no stalk. Attachment is alternate. Stems are smooth and slender, branched or not. Plants can form colonies from long rhizomes.

Fruit:

Fruit is a round drupe about ¼ inch in diameter with the remains of the sepals at the tip. The drupe turns blue to brown as it matures and contains a single large seed.

Notes:

Bastard Toadflax is semi-parasitic, feeding on other plants through its rhizomes. The DNR lists 2 varieties in Minnesota: var. pallida, which has a waxy coating on leaves, and var. umbellata, which lacks the waxy leaves. There are no herbarium records of var. pallida in Minnesota but it is most likely to be in western counties.