Plants 30-100 cm, spreading-pilose, villous. Leaf blades 4-15 cm. Inflorescences of solitary, axillary flowers. Pedicels 5-20 cm. Flowers: calyx 2.5-6.2 cm; tube 1.2-1.7 cm, spreading-pilose; lobes linear to linear-lanceolate, 1.2-4.5 cm; petals purplish red to pink (rarely white), unspotted, 1.5-4 cm, equaling or shorter than calyx lobes. Capsules 16-24 mm. Seeds 3-4 mm wide. 2n = 48 (Europe).

Flowering spring-summer. Fields, roadsides, waste places; 0-1800 m; introduced; Man., N.B., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Ala., Alaska, Ark., Calif., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Eurasia; widely introduced worldwide.

Historical collections are known from British Columbia (1915) and Newfoundland (1890).