Plants 60--90 cm tall, with long appressed grayish hairs. Stems unbranched, often with axillary dichasia above. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, 4--13 cm × (2--)5--10 mm, midvein prominent, base slightly connate, apex acute. Pedicel very long. Calyx tube 1.2--1.5 cm, abaxially villous; teeth 2--3 cm. Petal limbs pink, 1.4--1.8 cm, shorter than calyx teeth; claw white, narrowly cuneate; limb dark red, obovate, emarginate. Stamens and styles exserted. Capsule ovoid, 1.2--1.8 cm, slightly longer than calyx. Seeds black, ovoid or reniform, 2.5--3 mm, with prominent acute tubercles. Fl. Jun--Aug, fr. Jul--Sep. 2n = 24, 48.

This species is used medicinally. The stem, leaves, and seeds are poisonous.

Weed of fields, wheat farmlands, roadside grasslands. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Xinjiang [native to the Mediterranean region, native or naturalized in N Asia and Europe; naturalized elsewhere].