Herb, to 50 cm tall, mostly erect; stems brownish, with long, straight, glandular trichomes interspersed with short curved trichomes, subwoody at base in age. Stipules minute; petioles less than 5 mm long; blades lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, acute at apex, acute to attenuate at base, l-5 cm long, 0.5-2 cm wide, strigose and scabrous below, bearing sparse, long, straight trichomes above, the margins bearing short trichomes. Flowers 6-parted, generally solitary in reduced interpetiolar cymes, the leaves on the inflorescence much reduced near apex; peduncles and pedicels short; hypanthium +/- swollen on one side and weakly gibbous at base, to 7 mm long, prominently ribbed, with long trichomes on ribs, enclosing fruit at maturity; calyx lobes short, deltoid; petals spatulate, violet to reddish-violet or violet-purple, to 3 mm long, borne on upper margin of hypanthium, spreading; stamens (11) 12, unequal, attached about midway on hypanthium, included; anthers violet, minute, introrse; ovary thin-walled; style to 1 mm long; stigma broader than style. Fruits capsules, bursting at maturity under tension of the placenta, the placenta stout, reflexing and flinging seeds from the ovary; seeds 3-7, orbicular to elliptic, somewhat flattened, 1-2.5 mm long, with a narrow margin. Croat 11991. Occasional, in the Lighthouse Clearing. Flowers from April to September.