General:
Annual herb, finely stiff-spreading-hairy throughout, usually maroon or purplish; stems decumbent, usually with ascending branches from the base, 5-20 cm tall, very slender; main axis obscure.

Leaves:
Alternate, unstalked, linear, 0.5-3 cm long, pinnately divided into 3 to 9 thread-like lobes.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a loose, ultimately elongate, prominently bracted, terminal spike 4-15 cm long, often extending to near the base of the stem, the bracts 5-12 mm long, resembling the leaves but more dissected, pinnately divided into 3 to 11 lobes; corollas red-purple, occasionally yellowish, inconspicuous, smooth or nearly so, 4-6 mm long, narrowly tubular not club-shaped, 2-lipped, the upper lip beaked and hooked, longer than the lower lip, the lower lip swollen, 3-pouched, inconspicuously 3-toothed; calyces tubular, 5-7 mm long, hairy, 4-lobed, becoming papery in fruit; stamens 4, slightly exserted.

Fruits:
Capsules, round, flattened, 4-6 mm long; seeds 20 to 30, about 1 mm long, with a tight-fitting, netted coat. vol5_6

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

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

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Orthocarpus pusillus Benth.
Orthocarpus pusillus var. densiuscuus (Gandog.) D.D. Keck