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.
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia