Erect, or slightly upward-curving; appears to have fuzzy halo surrounding its stem and floral parts with floral tube, calyx, and stem covered in minute ball-tipped, sticky, glandular, orangish-yellow hairs; flowering stems often bend and sprawl outward.
Stems, leaves, sepals, petals covered in glandular hairs; leaves to 3 inches long; flowers on multiple stems, purplish-pink to light purple, opening has reddish-purple nectar guides on white background, woolly hairs; sterile stamen can exceed petals.
Habitat
Sandy, gravelly, or clay soils in sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, and desert grasslands.
Flower Characteristics
Purplish-pink to light purple flowers abundant on multiple stems; calyx lobes narrow, glandular-hairy; corolla 3/4 inch long, 1/4 inch wide, opening as high or higher than wide; staminode (sterile stamen) 1/4 inch long, reaching opening or beyond.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves mostly basal and opposite, narrow, elliptic, or spatula-like, up to 3 inches long, smooth or rarely few toothed; basal leaves stalked, stem leaves without stalk.