Stems clustered on a stout taproot, to ca 1 dm; stipules free; lfls 7–17, oblong to elliptic or oblanceolate, 5–20 mm, densely canescent with malpighian hairs beneath, less so or subglabrous above; infls of chasmogamous or cleistogamous fls, the former type slender-pedunculate, subcapitate but elongating in age, with 5–17 ochroleucous fls 8–14 mm; cal-tube 3–3.5 mm, the lobes nearly or quite as long; fr spreading or ascending, sessile, fusiform, 1.5–3.5 cm × 5–8 mm, densely short-hairy, long-pointed, the upper margin nearly straight, the lower convex, not or scarcely sulcate; 2n=26. Sandy prairies, dunes, and hills, Minn. and Io. to se. B.C., s. to Tex. and N.M. May, June. (Batidophaca l.; B. cretacea) Some or all infls on many plants produce only cleistogamous fls 3–5 mm in short subsessile racemes.
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