Much-branched perennial herb to c. 1.5 m high; stems numerous, with coarse curved hairs. Basal leaves rosetted, narrowly elliptic, 4–15 cm long, petiolate, acute, deciduous; cauline leaves narrowly elliptic, 0.5–9 cm long, 5–15 mm wide, sessile to subsessile, margins sinuate, minutely toothed. Inflorescence a spike, sometimes branched, to c. 80 cm long. Flowers zygomorphic, opening near sunrise; hypanthium 3–6 mm long; sepals linear, 9–12 mm long, often failing to separate completely, bent to one side, pink; petals 8–15 mm long, white, rarely tinged pink, clawed. Capsule indehiscent, ellipsoid, 5–8 mm long, c. 3 mm wide, glabrous, strongly 4-angled; seeds 2–4. Flowers Jan.–May.
GipP. Also naturalised WA, SA, QLD, NSW, ACT. Native to the USA. Widely cultivated, plants occasionally escaping gardens into nearby bushland.
