Distribution: Occurring west of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Sasketchewan and across much of the U.S. except the upper Midwest and Northeast.

Habitat: Prairies, grasslands, and balds.

Flowers: May-June

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Threatened in Washington (WANHP)

Slender, glabrous annual or winter annual from a short taproot, the stems 1-5 dm. tall, with a whorl of prostrate stems at the base, these with opposite or ternate leaves; main stems 1-several from the base, simple and erect.

Main stems leaves mostly alternate, sessile, sparse, linear, 1-3.5 cm. long and 1-2.5 mm. wide, the lower often opposite.

Flowers in nearly naked, terminal racemes; calyx of 5 distinct sepals; corolla light blue, bilabiate, 10-12 mm. long exclusive of the slender, downward-curved spur 5-9 mm. long, the lower lip 3-lobed, much larger than the erect, 2-lobed upper lip; stamens 4.

Capsules ellipsoid, 2.5-4 mm. long; seeds densely tuberculate.