Plants annual, 40-60 cm tall, rarely to 1 m tall. Stem green, sometimes red-tinged, conspicuously noded, branched, glabrous. Leaves alternate; petiole 1.25-2.5 cm, without basal glands; leaf blade elliptic-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 8-18 × 3-6.5 cm, membranous, glabrous, lateral veins 9-11 pairs, base cuneate, attenuate into petiole, margin crenate-serrate, teeth mucronulate, apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate. Inflorescences axillary and subterminal, racemose, 1-4(or 5)-flowered; peduncles often shorter than leaves. Pedicels 1-2 cm; bracts caducous, large. Flowers blue-purple. Lateral sepals 2, purple, ovate-orbicular, 1-1.1 cm, apex acuminate. Lower sepal deeply navicular, abruptly narrowed into a slightly curved spur. Upper petal orbicular, abaxially not carinate; lateral united petals ± clawed, 2-lobed; basal lobes orbicular; distal lobes oblong-dolabriform. Anthers obtuse. Capsule linear, 2.5-3 cm. Fl. Aug-Sep. 2n = 18, 19.