Triphysaria versicolor ssp. versicolor

General:
Annual herb; stems erect, 10-50 cm tall, slender, simple or branched above, smooth except short-hairy in the inflorescence, straw-coloured.

Leaves:
Alternate, unstalked, linear-lanceolate, 2-8 cm long, pinnately divided into 5 to 9 linear lobes, smooth.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a dense, ultimately elongate, prominently bracted, terminal spike 5-20 cm long, the bracts 8-18 mm long, differing gradually from the leaves, divided into 3 to 5 lanceolate lobes; corollas whitish often fading pinkish, much exserted, densely short-hairy, 12-22 mm long, tubular, club-shaped, 2-lipped, the upper lip beaked, slightly longer than the lower lip, the lower lip swollen, deeply 3-pouched, minutely 3-toothed, the margins purple-dotted; calyces tubular, 5-10 mm long, hairy, 4-lobed; stamens 4, included within the corolla.

Fruits:
Capsules, ellipsoid, 6-9 mm long; seeds numerous, about 1 mm long, with a tight-fitting, netted coat.

Notes:
This disjunct species occurs 425 km N of the nearest population in Lane Co., OR. Most authors (e.g., Keck 1927, Taylor and MacBryde 1977, Scoggan 1979) have treated this as an introduced species although there is no evidence of introduction at the collection sites.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia