Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes. Stems absent or 2--7 cm in flower, to 20 cm in fruit, shaggy pilose to villous. Leaves: blade green, linear-lanceolate, 4--30 ´ 0.9--2.5 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), margins frequently clear or edged with rose, laxly and irregularly pilose or villous. Inflorescences terminal, solitary; bracts foliaceous, well developed, not saccate, sparsely to densely pilose. Flowers distinctly pedicillate; pedicels 4--6 cm, laxly pilose; sepals usually purple or rose-colored (rarely pale green), not inflated, 1.2--1.6 cm, uniformly eglandular-pilose; petals distinct, deep rose or purple, or frequently blue, broadly ovate, not clawed, 1.8--2.2 cm; stamens free; filaments bearded. Capsules 5--7 mm. Seeds 2--3 mm. 2n = 24.

Flowering spring. Clay soils of rocky prairies and open woodlands; Kans., Mo., Okla., Tex.