Stems 1–few, erect or ascending, simple or virgately branched above, strigose, 3–10(–15) dm; lvs usually erect or strongly ascending; lfls linear to narrowly oblong, 3–5(–7) mm wide, (3–)4–6 times as long, short-strigose on both sides, or rarely glabrous above; fls purple, 6–8 mm, the apetalous ones chiefly along the middle of the stem in small, subsessile clusters, the others in short, few-fld racemes from the upper axils, on peduncles shorter than the lvs, forming a crowded, leafy infl; cal-lobes of the petaliferous fls 1.7–3 mm, the 2 uppermost connate to the middle or beyond; fr thinly and inconspicuously strigose; 2n=20. Dry upland woods; Mass. and Vt. to Wis., s. to n. Fla., Kans., and Tex. Aug., Sept.