Erect herbs, 30-70 cm tall; root sometimes purple, rather enlarged, fleshy, fusiform; branches subquadrate, becoming channeled, puberulent or villosulous becoming glabrescent. Leaves sessile or subsessile, opposite or often ternate; blade drying papery, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 7-10 × 3-5 cm, both surfaces glabrescent or usually hispidulous to pilosulous or strigillose at least on principal veins, base acute to rounded, apex obtuse to acuminate; secondary veins 5-7 pairs, usually indistinct; stipules persistent, shortly fused to petioles or united around stem, linear to narrowly triangular or sometimes shortly to deeply 2-or 3-lobed, 8-10 mm, villosulous to glabrescent, acute. Inflorescences congested-cymose to subcapitate, puberulent or villosulous to glabrescent, ebracteate; peduncles 3-12 cm; dense flower groups 1-1.5 × 1-2.5 cm, borne singly or 3-5 on cymose axes; pedicels 0.5-1 mm. Calyx glabrescent; ovary portion ellipsoid, ca. 0.5 mm; limb deeply lobed; lobes triangular, 0.1-0.5 mm, often unequal on an individual flower. Corolla red, purplish red, or white, salverform or tubular, externally densely villosulous or glabrous; tube 3-4 mm; lobes triangular to ovate, ca. 1 mm. Schizocarps oblong-ellipsoid, somewhat didymous, laterally somewhat flattened, ca. 1.5 mm; mericarps separating from each other and carpophore; carpophore persistent, linear, ca. 1.3 mm.
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