Micranthes reflexa is a small alpine herb that occurs in open, dry areas on slopes, ridges and floodplains from boreal uplands into the alpine zone of Denali. This species has thick, hairy leaves and white flowers on a stout stem. Plants grow 9-30 cm tall from a thick rhizome with fibrous roots. Plants typically have many basal leaves surrounding one fertile stem. The dentate-margined leaves are ovate with a broad petiole. The leaf underside is purplish, and both sides are densely hairy. Stems are leafless, relatively stout, reddish and hairy. The central inflorescence is an open, branched cyme, and producing many small, white, 5-petalled flowers. The sepals are ovate and half as long as the 2-3 mm long petals, in mature flowers they reflex backwards. Fruits are two-beaked capsules. This species can be differentiated from other species in Micranthes by the reflexed sepals and the presence of hairs on both sides of the leaves.

This species is perennial and deciduous. In interior Alaska, flowering begins in early to mid-May, and ends in June (McGuire and Armbruster 1991).

Micranthes reflexa is monoecious with bisexual flowers. The fruit is a dry capsule, which splits open to release many small seeds, dispersed by gravity, wind and water.

Dry to somewhat moist sites.