Plants perennial; taproot stout; caudex simple or branched, woody, bearing tufts of basal leaves. Stems erect, simple proximal to inflorescence, 30-60 cm, softly pubescent and stipitate-glandular. Leaves 2 per node; basal ± petiolate, petiole ciliate, blade oblanceolate, spatulate, 5-12 cm × 7-20 mm, apex acute, short-pubescent on both surfaces; cauline in 3(-4) pairs, reduced distally, blade oblanceolate to lanceolate. Inflorescences open, narrow, with ascending branches, 9-25-flowered, bracteate, pubescent and stipitate-glandular; bracts narrowly lanceolate, ciliate. Pedicels 1/ 2-3 times longer than calyx. Flowers: calyx prominently 10-veined, tubular in flower and fruit, umbilicate, somewhat constricted around carpophore, 15-38 × 3-6 mm, papery, sparsely pubescent and stipitate-glandular, veins parallel, green, with pale commissures, lobes 5, broadly ovate, 2-4 mm, scarious around green midrib; corolla pink or rose red (rarely white), clawed, claw equaling calyx, limb oblong, fanlike, deeply 4-lobed, lobes divergent, lanceolate (rarely with only 2 lobes, each with small lateral tooth), (7-)10-20 mm, appendages linear, 2-4 mm; stamens exserted, shorter than petals; stigmas 3, shorter than petals. Capsules narrowly ovate-elliptic, longer than calyx, opening by 6 recurved teeth; carpophore 4-18 mm. Seeds grayish brown, reniform, 1-1.5 mm, verrucate. 2n = 48.
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