It also can be found around the rims of blowouts where sand is deposited. In May and June, when it is in bloom, its large lavender flower heads stand out in the scant vegetation in and around blowouts. Stems are of two types, flowering and vegetative. Vegetative stems are commonly one foot tall or shorter, but can reach nearly two feet. They are lax and curved upward from the base.
Plants often root from the stem nodes if the nodes are buried in sand.
The lax, linear leaves, one to eight inches long and one-quarter to one inch wide, grow opposite each other and have no petiole, but are attached directly to the stem. They have parallel veins and smooth edges. The flowering stems, up to about one-half inch in diameter, are stout and usually six to 18 inches tall. Leaves on the flowering stems are up to three inches wide, lance-shaped and stiff. The flowering head is cylindrical with 16 to 80 flowers arranged in several whorls.