Annual herb 10–70 cm high. Stem slender, purple-brownish at the base, branched or unbranched, stem angles scabrid-denticulate. Leaves subsessile to petiolate, petiole 2.5–5.5 mm long; lamina linear-lanceolate to elliptic, 10–15 mm long, 3–10 mm wide, acute to obtuse, cuneate at base. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, in distinct dichasial cymes; pedicels 4–5 mm long; bracts 2–10 mm long, linear, acute. Flowers usually 5-merous (rarely 4-merous), blue, pale violet, rarely white. Calyx with a very short tube, up to 1 mm long; lobes 2–5 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, ovate-elliptic, membranous, hyaline, broadly winged, wings green up to 3 mm wide, with delicate reticulate veins, denticulate along margin, accrescent in fruit. Corolla tube cylindrical, 2.5–4 mm long, minutely scabrid externally; lobes ovate to obovate, 2–3 mm long, 1.5–2.5 mm wide, acute to obtuse.Filaments inserted into the corolla lobe, ± 1.5 mm long; anthers 0.5–2 mm long. Ovary ovoid to globose, 2–3.5 mm long, 1–1.5 mm diameter; style ± 2 mm long. Capsule up to 4 mm in diameter, ovoid to globose, dehiscing septicidally by breaking at the base of the style. Seeds numerous, ± 0.4 mm in diameter, surface reticulate-pitted. Fig. 1 (p. 3).
