PLANT: Short-lived perennial, 15-50 cm tall, simple to branched at base; stems with short to long, glandular to nonglandular hairs. LEAVES: glabrous to sparsely short pilose or glandular, the lower deeply lobed, the upper entire to few lobed. INFLORESCENCE: somewhat diffuse to one sided, with subsessile flowers crowded on short, lateral branches. FLOWER: calyx 4-8 mm long, short-glandular pubescent, the lobes short aristate; corolla pale violet to purplish, the tube 5- 15 mm long, the throat 1-2.5 mm wide, the lobes subequal, the lower 3 partly united, often with purple flecks; stamens inserted on the upper tube or throat; filaments unequal; anthers exserted; stigma slightly exceeding the anthers. CAPSULE: 4.5-7 mm long; seeds 2-8 per locule. NOTES: Open sites, desert shrublands, woodlands; Apache, Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Yavapai cos.; 670-2590 m (2200-8500 ft); Jul-Oct; s CO, NM, TX, and n Mex. Plants with short corolla tubes (5-8 mm long) included in the calyx have been called Gilia polyantha Rydberg var. whitingii Kearney and Peebles, which may represent a distinct species. Typical I. polyantha (Rydberg) V. E. Grant, endemic to s CO, differs by its taller (40-70 cm), often solitary stems, uniformly glandular pubescence, glabrous to sparsely pubescent calyx lobes, and white corollas with equal lobes. REFERENCES: Dieter H. Wilken and J. Mark Porter, 2005, Vascular Plants of Arizona: Polemoniaceae. CANOTIA 1: 1-37.