Annual, plants with or without a central stem, freely branching when well-developed, stems red; herbage smooth or sparsely hairy, taprooted; white flowers, flowers in spikes, fade to pink or red.
Annual, many branching, may not have a central stem; leaves narrow, alternate; flowers white fading to pink or red, in dense spikes that elongate with maturity, <1/16 inch; seeds 6 to 9 in 1 row; fruit longer than its stem, very knobby, cylindrical.
Habitat
Openings in pine forests, slopes.
Flower Characteristics
Densely flowered spikes elongate with age, tips often nodding; bracts below flowers, floral tube hairy, styles shorter; sepals bend downward at flowering; petals to 1/4 inch long, becoming pink or red with age, open in the morning, close by noon.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Stems red; leaf blades narrow to lance-like, 1-1/2 inches long, decrease somewhat in size going up the stem, margins smooth; blades without stems or short-stemmed.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Capsule shaped like a cylinder, to 1/2 inch long, ovaries 2-chambered, smooth or hairy; seeds generally in 1 row in each chamber, erect.
3 to 18.