Biennial, 20-37 cm tall; stems solitary to several, usually erect, leafy, densely covered with sessile to short-stalked, 3-celled, light-colored capitate glands with some short and longer simple nonglandular hairs; leaves 1-6 cm long, 0.5-2 cm wide, irregularly crenate-dentate, densely covered with short, light-colored, stipitate glands, petioles of basal leaves about 12 mm long, petioles of upper leaves short to none; inflorescences numerous, reddish, leafy-bracteate, in terminal cymes on main stem and shorter lateral branches, cymes to about 5.5 cm long in fruit; sepals elliptic to linear to narrowly oblanceolate, about 3.3 mm long; flowers tubular to tubular-campanulate, light violet, 4-5 mm long, lobes 1.5-2 mm long, puberulent; stamens exserted 5-6 mm, dark violet; style exserted, divided 3/5 of its length, hirsutulous basally; capsule 2.6-2.8 mm long, 1.8-2.1 mm wide, glandular and hispidulous; seeds oblong, black, 2.2-2.7 mm long, 1.1-1.3 mm wide, excavated ventrally, margins and ridge entire to corrugated, dorsal surface pitted and cross-corrugated. Flowers late July through September.