Annuals 30-50 cm tall. Roots yellow, fibrous. Stems erect, subquadrangular, branched. Leaves sessile or short petiolate; leaf blade lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 0.8-4.5 × 0.3-2 cm, thin herbaceous, base obtuse, margin slightly revolute, apex acute, veins 3-5. Inflorescences panicles of cymes, many flowered, spreading. Flowers 5merous. Pedicel erect, to 2.5 cm, filiform. Calyx tube 1-1.5 mm; lobes reflexed at anthesis, lanceolate, 5-7 × 1.5-2 mm, slightly unequal, margin and midvein dark purple, apex acuminate. Corolla dirty purple, with 2 purple spots above each nectary, 1-1.2 cm in diam., tube 1-1.5 mm; lobes spreading at anthesis, ovate-lanceolate, 6-7 mm, apex acuminate. Nectaries 1 per corolla lobe, horseshoe-shaped, naked. Filaments dark purple, 4-5 mm, basally much enlarged and connate; anthers blue-purple, ellipsoid, 1-1.5 mm. Style 3-4 mm, slender; stigma lobes capitate. Capsules ovoid, 7-10 mm. Seeds pale yellow, subglobose, 0.3-0.5 mm in diam.; seed coat smooth to warty. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 20.
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A herb. It grows each year from seed. It grows 30-50 cm tall. The roots are yellow and fibrous. The stems are erect and angular. The leaves are without stalks and are 1-5 cm long by 1-2 cm wide. The edges curl under slightly. There are many flowers in a spreading open arrangement. The flowers are dark purple with 2 purple spots. The fruit is an oval capsule 7-10 mm long.
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