PLANT: Annual, compact, much branched, the branches rigidly spreading to ascending.PLANT Annual, compact, much branched, the branches rigidly spreading to ascending.

LEAVES: alternate, subsessile, linear to oblanceolate, pinnately toothed to lobed, the teeth and lobes with 1 terminal bristle.

INFLORESCENCE: terminal, compact to subcapitate, bracteate, the bracts leaflike, reduced in size.

FLOWERS: zygomorphic, subsessile; calyx tube membranes ruptured in fruit, the lobes bristle-tipped; corolla 5-merous, bilabiate; stamens subequally inserted on the upper tube; filaments unequal in length, curved; anthers mostly exserted; style exserted, with 3 stigmatic branches.

CAPSULE: ovoid, with 3 rounded lobes in x-section, dehiscent, the 3 valves separating completely with age; seeds 2-10 per locule, gelatinous when wet. 2n=14.

NOTES: 2 spp.; w U.S. (from the Greek, resembling Loeselia). Timbrook, S. 1986 Madrono 33: 157-174.

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