Slightly hairy, erect, glandular annual, often with numerous stems branching from the base. Oval leaves often have a lobed to wavy margin. Flower stalk is a dense 1-sided curving cluster of white to light purple bell-shaped flowers with yellow throats.
Annual, erect, glandular, minutely hairy throughout, often much branched from the base, stems slender and weak; leaves oval, not fleshy; flowers bell-shaped, white to light purple on <1/8 inch long stalks; style cleft at tip <1/3 of its length; seeds >50.
Habitat
Deep sandy washes (areas with sparse vegetation having water for brief periods of time), drying streambanks, slopes.
Flower Characteristics
Flower stalk has many narrow bell-shaped flowers with short stems that form a 1-sided coiled cluster. Each flower is about 1/4 inch long with 5 oval white to light purple petals and a tubular yellow throat. Below the flower are hairy leaf-like sepals.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Minutely hairy. Stems are usually branched from the base and often reddish. Leaves are oblong-oval to broadly egg-shaped, 1/2 to 1 inch long with margins that are often lobed to wavy but may be smooth or pointy. Leaves are gradually reduced up the stem.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Fruit is an oblong to egg-shaped capsule, 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, lightly covered with coarse stiff hairs and dotted with glands.
Seeds are numerous (at times up to 80 are produced), egg-shaped or nearly round, dark brown, less than 1/16 inch long with rough indentations on their surface (pitted).