Herbs perennial, more than 60 cm tall, drying dark black. Stems many branched, glabrous or glabrescent except for 4 lines of hairs. Leaves in whorls of 3 or 4, opposite apically; petiole 0.5--2 cm; leaf blade linear-oblong to oblong, leathery, pinnatisect; segments 3--12 pairs, linear, ca. 1.2 cm X 1 mm, serrate. Inflorescences spicate, ± interrupted; bracts leaflike. Calyx cylindric, 5--6 mm, membranous, glabrous, deeply cleft anteriorly; lobes 5, unequal, posterior one triangular, smaller than lateral pair, ciliate, entire. Corolla purple, 2--3 cm, tube decurved at throat of calyx, 8--10(--16) mm; galea ca. as long as tube, slightly crested, with 1 small marginal tooth on each side; beak short, ca. 1 mm; lower lip slightly longer than galea, middle lobe hoodlike, smaller than lateral pair, serrulate. Filaments glabrous. Fl. Jul--Sep, fr. Sep--Dec.
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