This is a 4″ to 16″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises on a single stem from a taproot and fibrous roots.
The stems are erect, slender, hairless, and sometimes branched.
Basal leaves are alternate, often deciduous, spatula-shaped, ⅜″ to 13 ⁄16″ long, ⅛″ to ¼″ wide, and sometimes under water. They are narrowed at the base to a short leaf stalk. The upper and lower surfaces are hairless.
There are 4 to 15 stem leaves. Lower stem leaves are alternate and similar to basal leaves. Middle and upper stem leaves are stalkless and linear. They are held erect. The margins are untoothed, except on very robust plants.
The inflorescence is a loose, elongated, unbranched cluster (raceme) at the end of the stem and branches. The flowers are on ascending, ⅛″ to ½″ long stalks (pedicels). The stalks have a single leaf-like, linear, up to ⅝″ long bract at the base and a pair of minute, awl-shaped, secondary bracts (bracteoles) at or above the middle. The pedicels are not as long as the subtending bracts.
Each flower is ¼″ to ½″ long. At the base there are 5 green sepals (calyx) that are fused at their base into a top-shaped tube, then separated into 5 narrowly lance-shaped lobes. The calyx lobes are longer than the calyx tube.
There are 5 mostly blue petals fused at their base into a corolla tube, then separated into an upper and lower lip with spreading lobes. The lower lip is large, 3-lobed, and mostly blue with white or white and yellow forming an “eye” near the center. The upper lip is much smaller, blue, and split nearly to the base into 2 spreading lobes. There are 5 stamens. The filaments are fused from just above the base into a tube surrounding the style. The anthers are fused into a ring around the style. The lower 2 anthers are shorter than the others and are bearded at the tip. The style and filament tube protrudes from between the 2 lobes of the upper lip and bends downward near the tip. The flowers are not fragrant.
The fruit is a capsule. |
