an annual herb, decumbent or ascending, rather slender, glabrous or nearly so; stem bent at the base, branched immediately from the crown of the root; branches opposite, tetragonous, loosely divided, erect or ascending amidst bushes, green variegated with purple, 1–1 1/2 ft. high; leaves opposite, ovate, somewhat obtuse at the apex, subcordate at the base, denticulate or sinuate-dentate, 1/2–1 1/4 in. long, patent, thin, above green, somewhat concave and with the midrib and lateral veins impressed, beneath pallid and with the midrib and lateral veins in relief, the lower leaves the largest and on the longest petioles, the upper gradually smaller, in distant pairs; flowers alternate, arranged in terminal elongated erect bracteate racemes; pedicels slender, purple, spreading, 1/3– 3/4 in. long, bracteate at the base, curved upwards at the apex; bracts cordate-ovate or lanceolate, somewhat obtuse, sessile, concave, entire, reflexed, 1/12– 1/5 in. long; calyx-segments lanceolate or ovate-oblong, acute, green, not ciliate, 1/12– 1/6 in. long; corolla violet-purple, 2/3 in. broad; spurs 2, subulate, curved upwards, 1/2 in. long; filaments 4, filiform, glabrous, unequal, erect or ascending, the two longer inserted at the base of the upper corolla-limb, the two shorter inserted at the lower lip, circumflexed at the base; capsule narrowly ovoid-oblong, sublinear, 1/3– 1/2 in. long, 1/8 in. broad, somewhat oblique or curving inwards. null
