Family, Madder. Color, purplish. Calyx, tubular. Corolla, with a short tube and spreading border of 4 divisions. Stamens, 4. Flowers, in cymes, the peduncles twice or thrice-forked. Leaves, in whorls of fours, ovate, acute, dotted, with stem quite hairy. Fruit, bur-like. June to August.

Dry, sandy soil, Massachusetts to Florida and westward to Texas.