Plants perennial; taproot stout; caudex much-branched, woody, producing many decumbent, leafy, short shoots and erect flowering shoots, often densely cespitose. Stems erect, decumbent at base, simple, branched in flowering region, slender, 10-20(-25) cm, sparsely pubescent and glandular. Leaves mostly basal; basal marcescent, densely tufted, long-petiolate, blade linear-oblanceolate, 1-3 cm × 0.5-3 mm, somewhat fleshy, setose-puberulent on both surfaces; cauline in 1-3 pairs proximal to inflorescence, reduced distally, blade linear, 1-4 cm × 0.5-2 mm. Inflorescences 1-3-flowered, with terminal flower, usually with 1 or 2 flowers at proximal nodes. Pedicels erect, sometimes slightly bent at apex, 4-2 times calyx, viscid glandular-puberulent, septa of hairs colorless. Flowers: calyx prominently 10-veined, narrowly campanulate, ± umbilicate, not contracted proximally around carpophore, 9-18(-22) × 3-6 mm, papery, glandular-puberulent, viscid, hairs with colorless septa, veins parallel, purple, with pale commissures, lobes with midrib present, triangular, 2-3 mm, margins purple tinged, membranous, often broadened distally into round, crenulate lobe; corolla off-white, usually pink or purple tinged, to 1 2 times longer than calyx, limb 2-lobed, 2-3 mm, sometimes with 2 small lateral teeth, appendages 2, ovate, 1-1.5 mm; stamens slightly longer than calyx; styles 3(-5), equaling petals. Capsules included in calyx, opening by 6 (or 8 or 10) ascending teeth; carpophore 1.5-3 mm, woolly. Seeds brown, reniform, ca. 1.5 mm, rugose on both surfaces, margins with large, inflated papillae. 2n = 48.
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