Flower:

 Stalked flowers along branching stems, with 2 flowers per node and a leaf-like bract at the base of each stalk. Flowers are pink to purple, ½ to 1+ inch (1.5 to 2.8 cm), tubular with 5 round lobes that have a fringe of short hairs along the edge. The 2 upper lobes are slightly smaller than the lower 3 and are erect to spreading, the lower lobes more spreading. The tube throat is pale pink to white with reddish spots; 4 pale-tipped stamens barely extend out of the tube. Outer surfaces are covered in short, fine hairs, the inner surfaces are hairless or nearly so.

The calyx cupping the flower has 5 short, sharply triangular teeth. Flower stalks are hairless, up to ~¾ inch (4 to 20 mm) long; bracts are linear and longer than the stalk. Each flower only lasts a day before falling off and only a few flowers per branch bloom at a time.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are opposite, linear, stalkless, erect to ascending, ½ to 2+ inches (1.5 to 5+ cm) long and about 1mm wide, the toothless edges typically rolled under, the upper surface covered in short, stiff hairs, the lower surface hairless, and there are often small leaf clusters in the axils (fascicles). Stems are angled and rough from sparse, short, stiff hairs. Branches are ascending to nearly erect.

Fruit:

Fruit is an oval to cylindrical capsule about 1/3 inch (6.5 to 11 mm) long, rounded at the tip, and longer than the calyx. Inside the capsule are many dark brown seeds.

Notes:

While not considered a rare species in Minnesota, Rough False Foxglove is not commonly encountered, perhaps because it does not produce colonies and tends to get lost in surrounding vegetation unless the spot of color from the showy flowers catches one's eye. A robust plant may be near 2 feet tall, many-branched with many flowers, but most we encountered were under a foot tall. The Agalinis species may all appear similar, but can be distinguished by combinations of characteristics. Rough False Foxglove is a species of dry, sandy prairie with linear, rough textured leaves, flower stalks all shorter than the subtending bract, and fruits distinctly longer than the calyx. The rare Round-stemmed False Foxglove (Agalinis gattingeri) is the only other Agalinis species in Minnesota that shares that habitat, but is hairless to slightly rough textured, with smaller, longer-stalked flowers mostly single at the nodes and bracts all shorter than the stalk. The other MN Agalinis species are all found in wetter habitats and have broader leaves.