Stems usually erect or ascending, 2.5-12 dm, hirsute, at least basally. Leaf blades 5-11.5 × 0.1-1 cm, surfaces glabrous or densely hispid. Inflorescences single involucres in axils, or terminal, well branched, with ± well-defined main axis; fruiting involucres 5-10 mm, crosswalls of peduncle hairs usually pale. Perianth pale to deep pink.

Flowering late spring-summer. Dry open, sandy, rocky, or calcareous areas, prairies, roadsides, among juniper; 1000-1500 m; N.Mex., Okla., Tex.; Mexico.

Mirabilis linearis var. subhispida intergrades with Mirabilis rotundifolia and with M. albida through its named phases M. hirsuta, widespread on the Great Plains, and M. eutricha, from the southern plains.