General: Annual herb from a taproot; stems erect, unbranched when small but can have axillary branches if robust, finely hairy below, long-hairy and glandular or sticky above, 0.1-1 m tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves somewhat lobed, soon deciduous; stem leaves alternate, numerous, linear or lanceolate, 1-7 cm long, 2-13 mm wide, generally hairless above, glaucous and slightly glandular below, entire (basal somewhat lobed), the upper leaves (below the flower clusters) wider than the rest.
Flowers: Inflorescence of 1 to several, terminal, head-like clusters of unstalked flowers; corollas salmon- pink or yellow, the slender, flaring tube 20-30 mm long, spreading to five, 5-10 mm long lobes; calyces 7-10 mm long, the five lanceolate lobes to 4 mm long; pollen generally blue.
Fruits: Capsules, with 1-seeded chambers; seeds becoming sticky when moistened.
Dry to mesic meadows, rocky slopes, and openings in shrublands and forests in the lowland, steppe, and montane zones; infrequent on S Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands and the lower Fraser Valley, locally frequent in SC BC; S to MT, WY, AZ and CA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
