Annual herb, stem c. 40-400 mm tall, up to c. 4-5 mm diam. at base, solitary but soon well branched from the base and above, glandular-pubescent, hairs up to 1-3 mm long, scattered glistening glands as well, leafy. Leaves opposite near base, alternate upwards, 15-80 x 6-45 mm, blade ovate in outline, abruptly contracted to a petiolar part accounting for roughly half total leaf-length, apex ± acute, margins coarsely and irregularly toothed (lower seedling leaves may be ± entire), teeth very acute to subacute, both surfaces glandular-pubescent, hairs up to 0.5-2 mm long, longest on petiolar part, glistening glands as well particularly on lower surface. Flowers solitary in nearly all the leaf axils, sometimes running up into pseudoracemes. Pedicels up to 10-28 mm long, glandular-pubescent, hairs up to 0.3-1 mm long. Calyx tube 0.1-0.2 mm long, lobes 2.4-4 x 0.3-0.8 mm, linear-lanceolate, glandular-pubescent, hairs up to 0.2-1 mm long, glistening glands as well. Corolla tube 4.8-7.2 x 1.7-2.5 mm in mouth, cylindric below, abruptly expanded above and narrowly campanulate, limb 3-6 mm across lateral lobes, posticous lobes 1-2 x 0.9-1.7 mm, anticous lobe 1-2 x 0.8-2 mm, all lobes subrotund, glandular-puberulous outside, hairs up to 0.1-0.3 mm long, glistening glands as well, upper surface of lobes sometimes glabrous, often clad in small clavate hairs, inside sometimes glabrous, usually with 2 small patches of ± acute, retrorse unicellular hairs up to 0.5-0.8 mm long on posticous side level with anticous anthers, a narrow band of smaller retrorse hairs down back of tube between posticous filaments, all lobes shades of violet, lilac or rose, occasionally very pale or whitish, tube and throat yellow, the colour extending onto base of anticous lip, sometimes margined with a darker band of rose or violet. Stamens: posticous filaments 0.5-1 mm long, anthers 0.2-0.5 mm, anticous filaments 0.2-0.5 mm, anticous anthers 0.15-0.4 mm long, all filaments either glabrous or with a few minute glandular hairs at apex. Stigma c. 0.1-0.2 mm long. Style 2.7-4.8 mm. Ovary 1.1-1.6 x 0.5-1 mm. Capsules 3-4.5 x 1.7-3 mm, glandular-puberulous, hairs up to 0.15-0.2 mm long, glistening glands, if present, very few, near apex. Seeds 0.2-0.6 x 0.2-0.3 mm. Flowering possibly occurs in any month, but most records are between March and September.
Home