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Annual or perennial herbs. Lvs simple, entire, sessile or nearly so, opposite or whorled, sometimes alternate above. Infl. composed of terminal bracteate racemes or spikes, rarely fls axillary and solitary; bracts small. Calyx usually deeply and unequally 5-lobed; adaxial lobe usually longest. Corolla with pouch closing mouth of tube; tube cylindric, spurred at base; limb 2-lipped; upper lip 2-lobed; lower lip 3-lobed. Stamens 4, included. Capsule ± globose; loculi equal, dehiscing by up to c. 10 longitudinal slits in the upper 1/2. Seeds numerous, discoid and mostly winged, sometimes elongated and wingless, small.
Cal deeply 5-parted; cor very irregular, spurred at base, strongly bilabiate, the upper lip erect, 2-lobed, the lower 3-lobed, the throat open (in our native sp.) or closed by a conspicuous elevated palate on the lower lip; stamens 4; stigma capitate; fr ovoid to globose, each locule rupturing irregularly at the top; annual to perennial herbs, generally glabrous, with erect stems, numerous lvs, and several to many fls in terminal racemes. 100+, mostly Eurasian. Several spp., in addition to those listed below, occasionally escape from cult., but do not generally persist.
