Perennial by a prostrate suffruticose stem, freely branched and with numerous flowering branches 5–20 cm; lvs numerous and crowded, subulate, mostly 5–20 mm, sharp-pointed, usually ciliate, often with axillary fascicles; cymes few-fld; cor rose-purple to pink or white, 12–20 mm wide, its lobes notched an eighth to a fourth their length; style elongate; 2n=14. Sandy or gravelly soil and rock-ledges; s. N.Y. to s. Mich., s. to the mts. of N.C. and Tenn., and occasionally escaped from cult. as far n. as Me. Apr., May. Var. subulata, without glands in the infl, is northern. (P. ciliata) Var. setacea (L.) Brand, with glandular-hairy infl, is southern, extending n. to s. O. and southernmost Pa. (P. s. var. australis; P. brittonii)
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