whole plant softly villous; root woody; stems numerous, ascending or decumbent, subsimple; leaves alternate, shortly petiolate, the lower oval or ovate, the upper lanceolate or linear, flat, midribbed; racemes terminal, many-flowered, elongating; bracts ovate-acuminate, membranous, reflexed, persistent; pedicels shorter than the flower; alæ obovate, very obtuse, ant. sepals broadly elliptical, 3-veined; keel small, amply crested, lat. petals spathulate; capsule obcordate. Stems 8–12 inches long or more, numerous, spreading from a robust crown. The whole plant is clothed with long, silky, spreading hairs, which are sometimes very copious (as in P. lanata, E. Mey.) and sometimes shorter and fewer. Var. β. has much broader and more obtuse leaves than usual, but is connected with α. by many intermediate forms. The ant. sepals are twice as broad as the posterior. The flowers are small and greenish, perhaps flesh-colour when fresh. P. erubescens, E. Mey.! appears to be merely a starved form of this plant.
