Tall, erect; stout taproot; stem solitary, erect, branching near the top; herbage clothed in soft long hairs, sometimes glandular; leaves alternate on stems and in a basal cluster; flowers small, white to pink, slightly asymmetrical in elongated clusters.
Tall, robust annual, to 6 feet tall; distinguished by being densely glandular-hairy, foliage feels velvety to the touch; leaves slightly wavy and toothed; the flower spike is long, often drooping and crowded with small white to pink flowers with no stems.
Habitat
Found in weedy habitats such as fields, pastures, and stream sides, often in waste places.
Flower Characteristics
Small, self-pollinating flowers that are slightly asymmetrical, arranged in elongated many-flowered spikes at branch tips; flowers tubular, sepals 4, reflexed (pointed downward) at full flower, 1/8 inch long.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves alternate along the stems and in basal clusters; blades lance-like to narrowly oval, to 5 inches long, 2 to 4 inches wide, margins often lined with small teeth near the tip of the leaf, closely and minutely covered with short white hairs.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Capsule woody, to 4 inches long, spindle-shaped to lance-like, 4-angled, tapering to a slender base; surface smooth to short-hairy; not splitting open to release the 1 to 4 oval-shaped seeds.