Stems clustered on a stout taproot, 1–3 dm, ascending or spreading, sparsely strigulose, or glabrous below; stipules free; lfls 13–25, elliptic to obovate, 3–11 mm, sparsely strigose beneath; peduncles 5–14 cm; racemes short, with 10–20 anthocyanic to seldom white fls 10–16 mm; cal-tube 2–4 mm, the triangular lobes half as long; fr ascending, subsessile, broadly linear to ovate-elliptic, arcuate, 1.5–2.5 cm × 3.5–7 mm, turgid but not inflated, glabrous, sulcate on both sutures. Shale-barrens of W.Va., Md., and w. Va.; dry prairies, barrens, and open woods from Ill. and Io. to Miss., La., and Tex. May–July. Ours is var. distortus. (Holophacos d.)