Spikes of dainty, purple flowers bloom on this 4–36-inch tall, slender, plant with a grooved stem and milky sap. Note the stemless flowers nested in the upper axils of rounded, leaf-like bracts, which clasp and almost encircle the stem.

FLOWER: April–July. Spikes have 1–4 blooms at a time; flowers 3/4-inch wide (19 mm) with 5 purple, elliptic, pointed, petal-like lobes, and a protruding pistil. Bracts under flowers are leaf-like, rounded, clasping. Lower flowers are self-pollinating and don’t open.

LEAVES: Alternate, spiraling around and clasping the stem. Blades rounded, 3/8–1-inch wide (8–25 mm), margins with shallow teeth.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, hillsides, riparian areas, disturbed areas; prairie grassland, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,500–7,100 feet.

RANGE: Nationwide.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The spikes of flowers blooming in the axils of rounded, clasping leaves help distinguish this species.

NEW MEXICO COUNTIES: Widespread in the se quarter of NM in low- to mid-elevation, periodically moist habitats: Bernalillo, Catron,  Cibola, Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Los Alamos, Roosevelt, San Miguel, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro.