An erect to suberect branched annual 4-30 cm tall. Stems and brandies hairy, sometimes sparsely so; longer hairs stiff up to 2.2 mm long, often with swollen base; shorter ones thin and antrorsely appressed. Basal leaves deciduous, 25-60 x 4-11 mm, oblanceolate, obtuse, both surfaces hairy but not densely so, ciliate, with hairs up to 3 mm long. Inflorescence 2.5-4 cm long, up to 13 cm in fruit, bracts leafy. Calyx 5-partite, 7-11 mm long, accrescent and up to 32 mm in fruit, midrib prominent. hairs up to 3 mm long, stiff, arising from a swollen base. Corolla yellow, tube 10-12 mm long, slender; limb 3-4 mm broad, lobes obtuse. Anthers c. 1.2 mm long, attached near the throat. Style ± 8 mm long, forked, sometimes simple. Stigmas 2, compressed-rniform. Nutlets 2.8 mm long, tuberculate-rugose.