Herb up to 8 in. high; rootstock stout, perennial; stems leafy, simple or branched, usually several from the same base, hispid-pilose upwards; leaves sessile, papery, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, acute or obtuse, base narrowed or rounded, margin entire or occasionally 1-dentate (very rarely 2-dentate) near the base on each side, 1-2 1/2 in. long, 1/6-1/3 in. wide, glabrous on both surfaces; stipules setaceous, entire or 2-fid, not gland-tipped, subpersistent; cymes rather dense, few-flowered, hardly overtopping the leaves; peduncles patently hirsute, 1/4-1/3 in. long; primary branches patently hirsute, 1/6-1/5 in. long; bracts linear-lanceolate, margins closely lacerate-ciliate, glabrous, up to 1/5 in. long; male sepals lanceolate, closely glandular-denticulate, glabrous; petals spathulate-oblong, obtuse, 1/4 in. long, free; disc-glands free; stamens 8, filaments of both series united below in a column, the outer 5 free in their upper half, the inner 3 free in their upper fourth; female sepals like the male sepals; petals as in male but larger; ovary glabrous, tubercular-scabrous throughout; styles 3, united below, 2-lobed above; capsule very slightly sulcate, oblong-ovate, hardly 3-dymous, 1/3 in. across; cocci narrow oblong, tubercular-scabrous, glabrous; seeds narrow-oblong, 1/3 in. long, 1/5 in. wide.
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