Erect annual, simple or few branched; lower lvs spatulate or oblanceolate; principal lvs sessile or subsessile, lanceolate to ovate, 2-5 cm, acuminate; cymes loose, commonly 5-9-fld, the pedicels to 4 cm; fls purplish-green, 10-12 mm; cor-lobes lance-ovate, acute; spurs present in most fls, to 5 mm. July, Aug. Var. deflexa, mostly 2-9 dm, with the principal internodes 5-10 cm, occurs in moist or wet woods and bogs from Lab. to B.C., s. to Mass., N.Y., n. Ill., Minn., and Mex. Var. brentoniana (Griseb.) A. Gray, 0.5-2 dm, with the principal internodes 1-3(-5) cm, occurs from N.S. to Lab. and Que., chiefly in exposed sites near the sea.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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