Herbs, perennial; caudex much-branched, thick and woody. Stems solitary or numerous, decumbent and rooting at base, becoming erect, 5-14(-25) cm, with gray, soft, curly to retrorsely crispate pubescence, rarely glandular. Leaves: blade spatulate or narrowly lanceolate to oblanceolate, some-times broadly so, 4-7(-10) cm × 8-12(-20) mm, reduced toward base, apex acute, pubescent on both surfaces, especially on midrib; subterranean bractlike, papery. Inflorescences reduced to single, terminal flower or open, (1-)3-5(-9)-flowered cyme, bracteate; bracts leaflike, reduced distally to ca. 1 cm. Pedicels ascending, straight, 1-6 cm, with a short canescence. Flowers: calyx 10-veined, broadly tubular in flower, 12-25 ´ 5-8 mm, turbinate in fruit and swelling in middle to ca. 10 mm broad, canescent, rarely sparsely pubescent or glandular; lobes lanceolate, 4-7 mm, with narrow, membranous margins, apex acute; corolla coral pink or white, clawed, claw equaling calyx; limb 4-lobed, usually deeply so, rarely 2-lobed with smaller lateral teeth, lobes 7-22 mm, appendages 2, linear, 1.5-3.5 mm (absent in subsp. bolanderi); stamens slightly longer than corolla claw; stigmas 3, slightly longer than corolla claw. Capsules ovoid to oblong, equaling calyx, dehiscing by 6 teeth; carpophore 2-5 mm. Seeds dark brown to black, reniform, ca. 2 mm broad, with concentric rings of small papillae.

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora): w North America.