General: Annual herb from a taproot; stems erect, branched, stalked-glandular at least above, the lower part with a bloom and with loose cobwebby but eventually deciduous hairs, 10-40 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves in a prostrate rosette, to 7 cm long and 2 cm wide, cobwebby, coarsely toothed or sometimes deeply pinnately lobed, the lobes few-toothed or entire; stem leaves few, progressively reduced upwards, clasping at the expanded base, pinnately toothed to entire, tapering to the tip.
Flowers: Inflorescence an open, glandular, few-bracted, terminal cluster of several, unstalked or short-stalked flowers; corollas blue or purplish, 3-12 mm long, the tube funnel-shaped with yellowish throat and white veins on the outer surface, flaring to 5 elliptic lobes that are 1/4 to 1/2 as long as the tube; calyces 3-5 mm long.
Fruits: Capsules, oblong-egg-shaped, 4-7 mm long, 3-chambered, with 2 to 8 seeds in two rows in each chamber; seeds angular, 1.5-2 mm long, becoming sticky when moistened.
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.
