Herbs. Stems herbaceous or suffrutescent, reclining or ascending, pubescent. Leaves oblong, elliptic-oblong or lanceolate, 1-2.5 cm long, subsessile, acute to obtuse basally and apically, pubescent. Flowers on peduncles, mostly equaling the leaves. Sepals lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 2-3 mm long, pubescent. Corolla mostly blue, sometimes white, 3-7 mm broad. Fruit capsular, globose, glabrous. Seeds black, smooth.

Fl. Per.: Feb.-Oct.

Type: Ceylon, Herb. Herman 3:35 (BM).

B-7 Hazara Dist.: Khaki-Oghi road, Y. Nasir 6174 (RAW), Swat: Ilam, M. Alam Khan 144 (RAW), C-6 Kohat Dist.: Hangu-Ibrahimzai road, M.A. Siddiqi & Y. Nasir 6615 (RAW), C-7 Rawalpindi Dist.: Margalla Hills, Alit Singh 37 (RAW), Rawalpindi, Topi Park, Mohindar Nath 137 (RAW), Hasanabdal, R.R. Stewart 7003 (RAW), Islamabad , Y. Nasir 6840 (RAW), Kahuta, Y. Nasir & Zaffar Ali 5435 (RAW), Jhelum Dist. : Ismailwal, E.Nasir 3689 (RAW), Langarpur, R.R. Stewart 538 (RAW), Sakesar, Iftikhar Ahmad s.n. (RAW), Choa Saidan Shah, M. Qaiser & A. Ghafoor 4565 (KUH), Narwali, M. Qaiser & A. Ghafoor 4484 (KUH), Gujrat Dist.: Pabbi Hills, R.R. Stewart 16329 (RAW), D-6 Thal, A. Rahman 25866 (RAW), G-4 Baluchistan: beyond Hub river, 8.2.1959, R.R. Stewart s.n. (RAW), Quetta, Rechinger 27925 (W).

Distribution: Southern U.S.A. through Central and South America, Africa, Iran, Pakistan, India, Ceylon and Malaysia.

This species figures prominently in ayurvedic medicines and is used as a tonic, vermifuge and for asthma. Almost invariably the plants are found in open ground from the plains to c. 1500 m.