Herbs, perennial, not or only scarcely cespitose, erect. Roots persistently densely woolly. Stems 20--50 cm. Leaves strongly ascending; basal leaf sheaths glabrous to puberulent; blade linear, (2--)10--25 ´ 0.1--0.4 cm (distal leaf blades much narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened). Inflorescences: bracts not distinct from bracteoles, usually minute, 1--3(--7) mm, scarious (rarely somewhat herbaceous). Flowers pedicellate; pedicels 1--1.5 cm; petals pink to rose, 9--13 mm; stamens 6; filaments bearded; ovary 3-locular. Capsules 3-locular, 3--5 mm. Seeds 1.5--2 mm.

Flowering spring, fall. Coastal strand; oak, pine, and palmetto woods and scrub, occasionally fields or roadsides, usually in sandy soil; Fla.

A white-flowered form has been described from central Florida as Callisia ornata forma leucantha Lakela (O. Lakela 1972), but such color forms are hardly worth taxonomic recognition.