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Erect annual, 7–33 cm high, drying blue-black, almost simple or more usually profusely branched, glandular-pubescent throughout; root simple. Leaves linear, 1–3.5 cm long, ± 2 mm wide, sessile, base attenuate, apex acute, margins entire. Flowers blue with white throat, solitary; pedicels 8–12 mm long, with a pair of subulate bracteoles 1–2 mm long, inserted well above the middle. Calyx deeply divided, lobes ± 3 mm long, joined only at the base, linear. Corolla tube 8–10 mm long; lobes blue with darker veins, ± 2 mm long, rounded at the apex; anthers free or ± cohering, ciliate; style as long as the corolla tube; stigma slightly bifid. Capsule ovoid, 7–8 mm long, acutely beaked, dehiscing into 4 segments, minutely pubescent. Seeds oblong, 1 mm long, longitudinally ridged, minutely striated. Fig. 2, p. 11.