Herbs perennial, 15-50 cm tall. Principal root to 10 cm, stout, base fleshy. Stems much branched, caespitose, erect or inclined, ridged and sulcate, pubescent. Leaves subsessile; leaf blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 10-30 × 0.5-1(-3) mm, papery, glabrous or very sparsely puberulent, midvein raised abaxially, impressed adaxially, lateral veins obscure, base cuneate, margin entire, recurved, apex acuminate. Racemes terminal, secund, 5-7 cm, slender, becoming slightly pendulous, sparsely few flowered; bracts 3, caducous, lanceolate, ca. 1 mm, apex acuminate. Sepals 5, persistent, glabrous; outer sepals 3, linear-lanceolate, ca. 2.5 mm, apex acute; inner sepals 2, petaloid, obovate or elliptic, ca. 5 × 2.5 mm, midvein green, base unguiculate, margin membranous, violet, apex rounded, mucronate. Petals 3, connate in lower 1/3, purple; lateral petals obliquely oblong, ca. 4 mm, inside hairy at base; keel longer than lateral petals, apex with fimbriate appendages. Stamens 8; filaments forming an open staminal ciliate sheath split in upper 1/4 with 2 separate single filaments with anthers in middle, and on either side of these a united group of 3 filaments each carrying 3 sessile oblong anthers at tip. Ovary compressed-orbicular, apex retuse; style curved, apex trumpet-shaped; stigma in trumpet. Capsule orbicular, ca. 4 mm in diam., narrowly winged, eciliate, apex retuse. Seeds black, ovoid, ca. 2 mm in diam., densely white pubescent, with 2-lobed decurrent strophiole. Fl. and fr. May-Sep. 2n = 32, 34.
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A herb. It keeps growing from year to year. The main root is 10 cm long and stout. The stems are ridged and hairy. The leaves have almost no stalks and the leaves are narrow and 10-3-mm long by 1-2 mm wide.
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