Plants robust annuals to about 8 dm tall; stems to 2 cm thick, pubescent and glandular throughout; stem leaves broadly lanceolate, 4-10 cm long, 1.5-5 cm wide, irregularly crenate-dentate or lobed, lower and basal leaves deeply lobed to pinnatifid; inflorescences terminal on main stem and on lateral branches, cymes elongating to 8.5-15 cm in fruit; corolla tubular, pale blue or lavender, 4-4.5 mm long, lobes about 1 mm long, crenate; stamens and style exserted 1-1.7 mm, style bifid three-fourths its length, mostly hispidulous; calyx lobes nearly distinct, 2.5-3.5 mm long in flower, to 5 mm long and 2.5-3.5 mm wide in fruit, usually slightly longer than the capsule; capsule oblong, 4.5-5 mm long, densely short-glandular; seeds 3, dark brown, 3.5-4.3 mm long, 1.2-1.7 mm wide, uniformly pitted, shallowly excavated from the upturned margins, ventral ridge usually corrugated on one side. Flowers July through late September.