Stems clustered on a stout taproot, to ca 1 dm; stipules free; lfls 7-17, oblong to elliptic or oblanceolate, 5-20 mm, densely canescent with malpighian hairs beneath, less so or subglabrous above; infls of chasmogamous or cleistogamous fls, the former type slender-pedunculate, subcapitate but elongating in age, with 5-17 ochroleucous fls 8-14 mm; cal-tube 3-3.5 mm, the lobes nearly or quite as long; fr spreading or ascending, sessile, fusiform, 1.5-3.5 cm נ5-8 mm, densely short-hairy, long- pointed, the upper margin nearly straight, the lower convex, not or scarcely sulcate; 2n=26. Sandy prairies, dunes, and hills, Minn. and Io. to se. B.C., s. to Tex. and N.M. May, June. (Batidophaca l.; B. cretacea) Some or all infls on many plants produce only cleistogamous fls 3-5 mm in short subsessile racemes.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
