PLANT: Perennial, herbaceous to woody at base, 20-60 cm tall, simple to branched at base; stems with short, white, curly or woolly hairs.

LEAVES: subglabrous to short woolly, entire to pinnately or palmately lobed.

INFLORESCENCE: a dense terminal head, bracteate; flowers subsessile to sessile.

FLOWER: calyx 3-4 mm long, the lobes lanceolate, acuminate; corolla white, the tube 3-5 mm long, the throat 0.5-1 mm wide, the lobes rounded, sometimes with pinkish flecks; stamens inserted on the throat between the lobes; filaments subequal; anthers and stigma slightly exserted.

CAPSULE: 1.5-2 mm long; seeds 1-2 per locule. 2n=14.

NOTES: 7 subspp.; w N. Amer.

REFERENCES: Dieter H. Wilken and J. Mark Porter, 2005, Vascular Plants of Arizona: Polemoniaceae. CANOTIA 1: 1-37.