Perennial; stems chiefly erect, 1–7 dm, the few branches ascending, usually sparsely strigillose; lvs linear to narrowly oblong, lanceolate, or spatulate, 3–10 cm, to 1.5 cm wide, tapering to a short petiole or a subsessile base, obtuse or subacute, toothed, rugose above and veiny beneath, glabrate or sparsely strigillose; spikes slender, solitary on the stem and branches, usually rather dense; bracts lance-subulate, commonly shorter than the cal; mature cal 2(–5) mm, sparsely hairy, its lobes acuminate; cor deep lavender or purple, the tube scarcely longer than the cal, with scattered hairs at the mouth, the limb 4–6 mm wide; nutlets linear, 2–3 mm, raised-reticulate above, striate toward the base; 2n=14. Dry soil of woods, fields, rocky places and roadsides; Ont., Vt. and Mass. to Minn., s. to Fla. and Tex. June–Aug. (V. angustifolia Michx., not Mill.) A hybrid with V. stricta is V. ×moechina Moldenke.
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