Erect, 5-8 dm, simple or branched above; lvs linear to lance-ovate, to 15 cm, acuminate, serrate with salient or ascending teeth, on a short indistinct petiole, or tapering to a sessile base; spikes 3-8 cm, subtended by scarcely reduced foliage-lvs; cor 2.5-3.5 cm, white, or partly greenish-yellow, or tinged with pink, or even purple toward the summit, the palate white-bearded; staminode green; 2n=28. Wet woods; Nf. to Minn., s. to Ga. and Ala. July-Sept. Highly variable, with ±evident regional trends of variation.

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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From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

Pennell has divided Chelone glabra into several varieties and forms, five of which he cites from Indiana. For the benefit of those who wish to study this species intensively I have listed these forms and given their distribution. The species and its forms grow in wet woods, springy places about lakes, along streams, and in marshes. I have [var. elatior] from only Clark County. I have [variety elongata] from Dubois, Jennings, and Spencer Counties and Kriebel has collected it in Lawrence County. [Variety linifolia] is the common form of the species in our area.