Light Blue Snakeweed

jamaicensis: of Jamaica.

Shrubby perennial herb, 0.3-1.2 cm tall. Stems sometimes woody at the base, hairy at the nodes, sometimes purplish. Leaves elliptic, oblong, obovate or spathulate, often decurrent into the petiole, hairless or with sparse hairs on the veins beneath; margin crenate-dentate; petiole up to c. 1 cm long. Inflorescence in slender terminal spikes 14-50 cm long. Bracts 5-8 mm long, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, not longer than the fruiting calyx, hairless. Calyx 5-6 mm long, tubular, ellipsoid, 4-toothed with 2 central teeth shorter. Corolla blue or violet, rarely almost white; tube 8-11 mm long, exserted up to 5 mm, slightly curved; lobes c. 3 mm long.

Very locally frequent

Native of tropical America but now a more or less pantropical weed.