Somewhat villous-hirsute annual, the stems 1-4 dm, simple or branched especially below, loosely ascending and often rooting below; main lvs opposite, short-petiolate, the blade broadly elliptic or ovate, crenate-serrate, 1-2 cm, 1-1.5 times as long as wide; floriferous part of the stem elongate, with alternate bracts like the lvs, each with a single long-pedicellate axillary fl, the pedicel becoming 1.5-4 cm; cal-lobes lance-ovate, accrescent to 6-8 mm, becoming strongly 3-nerved; cor blue, (5-)8-11 mm wide; fr 5-9 mm wide, 3-5 mm high, divergently lobed, reticulately veined; style 1.8-3 mm; seeds 5-10 per locule, 1.2-1.8 mm, transversely rugose; 2n=28. Native of sw. Asia, intr. in gardens, lawns, roadsides and waste places throughout much of N. Amer. Apr.-Aug. (V. tournefortii)

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

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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

This species has been found in only four counties in the state. I first found it as a lawn weed in Bluffton in 1917 and later in two other parts of Bluffton a half mile distant. The fact that it was still persisting in 1936 shows it to be well established in this locality. It has been found in Goodland, Newton County, by Madge McKee. Grimes found it in waste ground in Russellville, Putnam County. It doubtless could be found in many other places.

……

Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = null, non-native

Wetland Indicator Status: N/A

Diagnostic Traits: leaves longer than wide, with ca. 7-15 rounded teeth; flowers in the axiles of ordinary foliage leaves; corolla ca. 7.5-8.5 mm wide; capsules with divergent lobes that are usually angled at apex.