Weak-stemmed annual. Stems ascending, lax, 25–100 cm. Herbage hispid; stems retrorse-prickly. Leaves: the basal petiolate, oblanceolate to spatulate, 2–8 cm long, becoming smaller and sessile on the stem. Inflorescence of solitary or paired, axillary flowers. Flowers reflexed-pedicellate; calyx divided ca. halfway, becoming compressed and 1–2 cm across in fruit with 2 small teeth between each pair of lobes, veiny and prickly; corolla funnelform, blue, ca. 2 mm long, the lobes ca. 1 mm long; fornices apparent; stamens included; style short, unlobed. Nutlets ovate, minutely muricate, compressed, 2–3 mm long, hidden by the calyx; scar above midlength (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).