Taprooted perennial; stems few or several, 2-6 dm, ±erect, branched from the base, often somewhat hairy below; lvs linear, sessile, mostly 20-30 נ1-3 mm, 1- nerved, slightly roughened, often with axillary fascicles; middle and upper stipules setiform or bristle- tipped; fls very numerous, on pedicels to 5 mm (some sessile), forming a crowded cymose panicle, heterostylic; sep narrowly triangular, often ciliate, 1-2 mm; cor purple to nearly white, hairy within, funnelform, 5-8 mm, the lobes two-thirds as long as the tube; fr obovoid-cylindric, narrowed to the base, two-thirds inferior, 2.5-3.5 mm; stamens and seeds of no. 1 [Hedyotis canadensis (Willd.) Fosberg]; 2n=18, 20. Dry soil and barrens; O. and Ind. to s. Mich., Io., and Nebr., s. to Fla. and Mex. June-Aug. (Houstonia n.; Houstonia angustifolia)

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

I found this species in very shallow soil on top of the high cliff of the Ohio River in a woods in Harrison County in sec. 14 about 4 miles southeast of Laconia. It occurs also on the slope of the high gravelly terrace of Big Wea Creek about 4 miles southwest of Lafayette, Tippecanoe County.

……

Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 9

Wetland Indicator Status: FAC