This perennial has upright stems 1-4 feet tall. The opposite, smooth, shiny, lance-shaped leaves up to 7 inches long are stalkless, often clasping, becoming smaller and more widely spaced above (C). The flowers are in a series of 3-6 pairs of branched clusters (thyrse) at the top of the stem with a pair of small leaves below each cluster (A). The tubular, white to pale pink flowers are 1 1/4 inch long and 3/4 inch wide, with the mouth flaring into 2 upper and 3 lower lobes. Four fertile stamens lie inside the upper portion of the tube. The infertile stamen, with its yellow hairs, extends to the mouth of the lower tube above the middle petal (B).  Its resemblance to a protruding hairy tongue is the origin of the alternate common name, beardtongue.