Perennial; stems 3-6 dm usually simple, glabrous or very sparsely villous; petioles 0-5 mm; lvs ovate or deltoid-ovate to lance-deltoid, 5-10 נ2-5 cm, acuminate, serrate, rounded or subcordate at base, sparsely hairy above, villous on the veins beneath; heads 1.5-2.5 cm thick (excluding the cors); bracteal lvs commonly tinged with pink or purple, spreading or reflexed, lanceolate; cal hirsute in the throat, its lobes subulate, 1.5-4 mm, often stipitate-glandular; cor pale rose- purple to white, dotted with purple, 2.5-3.5 cm, the upper lip slender, nearly straight, about as long as the tube. Woods and thickets; s. Ind. to Io. and e. Kans., s. to Ala. and Tex. May, June. (M. bradburiana)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.