Plants to 4 dm; roots elongate, fleshily woody. Stems ± erect, usually branching. Leaves sessile; blade terete, to 7 cm. Inflores-cences cymose, much overtopping leaves; peduncle scapelike, to 20 cm. Flowers: sepals deciduous, ovate, 3-4 mm; petals pink to rose-purple, obovate, 9-15 mm; stamens (40-)50-100; stigma 1, subcapitate. Capsules subglobose, sometimes trigonous, 3-4 mm. Seeds without arcuate ridges, 0.8-1 mm. 2n = 24, 48.

Flowering Apr-Oct. Woods, glades, barrens, cliffs, outcrops, rocky banks, sandstone, granite, gneiss, rarely limestone; 100-1000 m; Ala., Ga., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Va.

Most populations of Phemeranthus mengesii are diploid but a few scattered in western Georgia are tetraploid, probably the result of autopolyploidy (W. H. Murdy and M. E. B. Carter 2001).