General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems erect, solitary, simple, smooth, 10-60 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves soon deciduous; stem leaves opposite, lowermost leaves spoon-shaped or egg-shaped with short stalks, others more oblong or elliptic and stalkless, smooth, 1-6 cm long, 3-22 mm wide.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of terminal, more or less headlike clusters; corollas white to pale or dark pink 1.5-9.5 mm long, 2-lobed, with a slender spur, the tip usually enlarged; calyces lacking.
Fruits:
Achenes, dry, 2-4 mm long, convex side of body usually keeled, not grooved lengthwise, winged or not, the wing margins not thickened, hairy near the tips or along the margins.
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Plectritis congesta var. congesta (Lindl.) DC