Erect, 3–6 dm, the sterile basal shoots also erect or ascending; lvs linear to lanceolate or lance-ovate, 3–8 cm, narrowed to a sharp, indurate tip; infl a loosely branched cyme, the branches conspicuously stalked, the fls all or mostly on distinct pedicels; cor commonly pale red-purple, 1.5–2 cm wide, the tube usually ± hairy; style short; 2n=14. Prairies and upland woods; Conn. to Fla., w. to Man., Nebr., and Tex. Apr.–June. The widespread var. pilosa, which however extends nw. only to s. Wis. and e. Io., is evidently glandular-hairy in the infl (var. virens). Var. fulgida Wherry, a nw. phase (Wis. and Ill. to Man. and Kans.), is eglandular, with the hairs of the cal very fine and lustrous, 0.5 mm. Var. amplexicaulis (Raf.) Wherry, chiefly of Tex. to La. and Ark., but extending n. to n. Mo. and s. Ind., is likewise eglandular, but the hairs of the cal are coarse and 1–1.5 mm. (P. pulcherrima) An extensive but local population along the Sangamon R. in c. Ill. differs from var. pilosa in its glabrous cor-tube and has been described as ssp. sangamonensis D. A. Levin & D. M. Sm., but plants with glabrous cor-tube also occur elsewhere in the range of var. pilosa. Plants thought to form a stabilized derivative of P. amoena × pilosa, found in sw. Ind., w. Ky., and nw. Tenn., have been named P. pilosa ssp. deamii D. A. Levin. These plants approach P. amoena in aspect, but have the pubescent cor-tube of P. pilosa. Other vars. occur southward.
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