Plant: annual herb; erect, 7-25 cm tall, simple or divaricately branched; stems 4-angled, at least above, glabrous or with short scattered hairs Leaves: 1.5-3.5 cm long, linear to narrowly lanceolate-oblanceolate, the apices subulate bearing a sharp terminal hair, the margins scabrous, the bases somewhat hyaline, forming with the connecting fimbriate stipules a cup containing the sessile flowers Flowers: 1-several in leaf axils; calyx lobes unequal, ovate or lanceolate, the smallest adaxial, the other 3 large and adhering to the abaxial nutlet; corolla white or pink, glabrous or hispid externally, 3 mm long, the lobes small; stamens and style included or scarcely exserted Fruit: FRUIT: nutlets 3 mm long, obovoid-turbinate, flattened at the plane of separation, covered with stiff straight, apically directed hairs, topped with persistent calyx Misc: Sandy, gravelly slopes and washes; grasslands; moist soil with oaks, pines, junipers; 1100-2450 m (3600-8000 ft); Aug-Oct REFERENCES: Dempster, Lauramay T. 1995. Rubiaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Sci. 29(l): 29.