Click on the image below to view an
expanded illustration for this species.
|
General: Annual herb; stems ascending to erect, 10-35 cm tall, simple or branched above; smooth to thinly short-hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, unstalked, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1-5 cm long, entire, sparsely short-hairy to nearly smooth.
Flowers: Inflorescence a dense, prominently bracted, terminal spike 2-8 cm long, the bracts 10-15 mm long, differing abruptly from the leaves, shorter and much broader, blunt-tipped, net-veined, showy and petal-like, at least the upper with pink-purple tips, some with a pair of lateral teeth below the middle; corollas rose-purple, minutely hairy, 10-13 mm long, largely hidden by the bracts, tubular, 2-lipped, the upper lip beak-like and hooked, surpassing the lower lip by about 1 mm, the lower lip broader, moderately pouched, yellowish, tipped with 3 tiny teeth; calyces tubular, 5-7 mm long, hairy but non-glandular, 2-cleft, each segment 2-lobed, the lobes shorter than the tube; stamens 4.
Fruits: Capsules, ellipsoid, about 5 mm long; seeds 3 to 5, with tight-fitting netted coats.
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
|