Japan Flora: Glabrous erect annual or biennial; stems simple or sparingly branched, 4-angled; basal leaves broadly oblan- ceolate-spathulate, the median and upper leaves spreading, deltoid-lanceolate or lanceolate, 2-3.5 cm. long, 7-15 mm. wide, gradually narrowed to the tip, acute to obtuse, sessile; flowers in a rather dense terminal panicle, 8-12 mm. across, blue, dark purple-spotted, pedicelled, 4-merous; calyx-segments lanceo­late, about 1/3 as long as the corolla, acute; corolla-lobes ellip­tic or ovate-oblong, glandular-grooved near the center, with thick flexuous hairs; capsules slightly longer than to as long as the corolla; seeds smooth, subovoid, slightly flattened, brown. Aug.-Sept. Sandy grassy slopes near the sea; Hok­kaido; rare. Kuriles, Sakhalin, Ochotsk Sea region, and Kamchatka. 

var. yezoalpina (H.Hara) H.Hara. Inflorescence rather loosely flowered; flowers pale blue, about 6 mm. across, the glandular-grooves usually slightly broader, naked or with few hairs on margin; capsules longer than the corolla. Aug-Sept. Alpine slopes; Hokkaido (Hidaka Prov.), Honshu (centr. and n. distr.); rare. Korea and ? e. Siberia.