A glabrous erect annual or biennial, up to 80 cm tall, upper half branched; stem fistular, ribbed; branches ascending. Young shoots glandulose. Leaves alternate, opposite to subopposite, under surface faintly glandular-punctate, 30-80 (-135) x 10-30 mm, elliptic-lanceolate or elliptic-ovate, acute or obtusish, glabrous, entire; uppermost leaves linear-lanceolate, 40-60 x 3.5-7.5 mm. Spikes terminal, erect, dense flowered above, lax below, (9-) 11-20 cm long. Flowers pink. Bracts 3-4 mm long, linear-lanceolate, up to 5 mm long in fruit, lower most sometimes leafy and large. Pedicel 1.5-3 mm, up to 4 mm long in fruit. Calyx campanulate, c. 4.5 mm long, 2/3 rd cleft, persistent; lobes lanceolate-obtuse or acutish, glandular streaked, the streaks reddish-brown; inner surface minutely glandulose, margin similar and membranous. Corolla 5-6 mm long, about twice the calyx length, tube broad and short (c. 2 mm long), lobes ligulate-oblong, glandulose. Ovary globose-ovoid, c. 1.6 mm broad, glabrous; style equalling the corolla, persistent, stigma subcapitate. Capsule 3-3.5 mm broad, globose, dehiscence at length irregular. Seeds c. 1 mm long, trigonal, dull black to brown, reticulate-vesiculose.

Fl.Per.: June-July.

Holotype: ‘Levant’, cultivated, 1759, Miller s.n.

Distribution: The Balkan peninsula, Caucasia, W. Syria, Turkey, N. Iraq, Iran, Soviet C. Asia, Afghanistan and Kurram.

Usually found along field borders or along roadside ditches, by water places etc. up to 2000 m.