Plant: shrub; 35-100(-150) cm high, often broader than tall, pubescent; stems much branched; lateral branches often clustered, divaricate, with rigid, spinose tips Leaves: sessile to short-petiolate, 3-25 mm long, 2-8 mm wide; blade narrowly ovate to elliptic or lanceolate; margin entire; base tapering INFLORESCENCE: racemose; bracts reduced or absent; flowers 1 per axil Flowers: pedicellate; calyx strongly zygomorphic, tan to purplish, the 2 lips rounded and entire, the basal portion in fruit much inflated, bladder-like, 14-20 mm long, approaching spherical; corolla zygomorphic, 10-25 mm long, the tube exceeding calyx, the upper lip whitish and hooded, the lower lip 3-lobed with its central lobe dark purple with a central white line; stamens 4, included in hood, the longer pair of stamens with 1 anther sac strongly reduced or abortive, the anther sacs slightly divaricate, blue, ciliate along margins and with sac-like glandular hairs around connective; ovary stalked, deeply lobed; stigma with one lobe nearly obsolete, appearing pointed Fruit: NUTLETS broadly ovoid, 2-3 mm long, glabrous, irregularly papillate, olive-green, on a stalk ca. 2 mm long Misc: Sandy and rocky areas and washes of the Sonoran Desert to pinyon-juniper chaparral; 350-1350 m (1200-5200 ft); Mar-Oct Notes: calyx inflated when in fruit to 1-2cm in diameter References: W. B. McDougal. Seed Plants of Northern Arizona. J.C. Hickman, ed. The Jepson Manual. Kearney and Peebles. Arizona Flora. ASU specimens. Walters, Gretchen M. 2003. Lamiaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 35(2).