I had a plant 40 years ago when I lived on the East Coast that I am trying to identify. It was an annual housepant that grew 7" - 9" tall. The plant had medium to dark purple flowers that were about 1" long and had a some what tubular shape.

The identifier for this plant though was what made it so neat. In the fall you would put the plant in a dark place to let it die. In the early spring, around February, you would go get the plant, dump the dirt onto a table top, paw through it and find these miniture brown cone shaped 'seeds' that were about 3/4" long and a 1/8" - 1/4" in diameter . There would be 3 - 5 of them. You would then plant them each in their own pot, water well, and bring back into the light.

My grandmother got me started on this plant. She is now gone and so is the plant. I moved away and everyone else forgot that it was in the basement!!!!