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General: Perennial herb from a stout taproot and branching woody stem-base; stems numerous, loosely ascending or erect, simple or nearly so, 10-50 cm tall, 4-angled; hairy, sometimes with gland-tipped bristles.
Leaves: Opposite, firm, lanceolate to egg-shaped, 1-3.5 cm long, 3-12 mm wide, entire, sparsely to densely hairy, green to ash-grey, often purple-tinged; short-stalked or almost unstalked.
Flowers: Inflorescence a single, terminal, head-like cluster, 1-4 cm wide, closely surrounded by leaf-like bracts; bracts conspicuous, 7-15 mm long, lanceolate to egg-shaped, hairy, rather dry, veiny, more or less purplish-tinged, long-hairy on the margins, tips pointed to rounded; outer bracts bent back or spreading, inner bracts forming a cup-like involucre; corollas tubular, pink-purple to whitish, 1-2 cm long, the 2 lips almost equal, about half as long as the tube, the upper lip erect, 2-lobed, the lower lip bent back, 3-lobed; calyces hairy, the short teeth woolly-hairy.
Fruits: Nutlets, 4 clustered together.
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
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