Stems leafy, nodes usually well separated. Leaves: distal cauline bases clasping, or if decurrent, spiny wings usually less than 1 cm. Corollas red, pink, or reddish purple (rarely white). 2n = 30, 31, 32, 34.

Flowering spring-autumn (May-Sep). Desert grasslands, arid shrublands, pine-, oak-, juniper-, or mesquite-dominated woodlands, often in disturbed areas, grassy slopes in montane pine forests; 1300-2200 m; Ariz., N.Mex.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora, Durango).

Variety martinii occurs from east-central and southeastern Arizona to western New Mexico and is scattered southward into north-central Mexico.