Search Results

Information Delicate annual herb with spreading or prostrate often reddish branches up to c. 7 cm. long and 1 mm. in diam. Leaves opposite, fleshy, 2–4 × 1–2 mm., elliptic to broadly elliptic or broadly ovate, apex obtuse; stipular hairs fairly numerous, c. 2 mm. long. Flowers solitary or 2–3 together at the ends of the branches, surrounded by a cluster of apical leaves and hairs equalling the length of the leaves. Sepals up to 3 mm. long, ovate, acute at the apex, pale and rather thin-textured. Petals 4, purplish or white, 1–1·5 mm. long, united to about half-way. Stamens 4, alternating with the petals. Ovary ovoid; style c. 0·5 mm. long, with 4 stigmas. Capsule c. 2 mm. long, ovoid-globose, dehiscing horizontally below the middle. Seeds many, grey, c. 0–5 mm. in diam., reniform, somewhat laterally compressed, with concentric lines of minute blunt tubercles.

Information Delicate annual(?); stems prostrate, red, to ± 15 cm long, slender, radiating and branching from a central root, only infrequently rooting at the nodes, not disarticulating. Leaves opposite, very succulent, broadly elliptic to ovate, 3–4.5 mm long, 1.5–2 mm wide, glaucous, concave above, sessile, obtuse; nodes with a whorl of fairly dense hairs 1–2 mm long, white and contrasting with the red stems. Flowers usually solitary, terminating short lateral branchlets, enclosed by 4 involucral leaves and many white hairs; involucral leaves slightly larger than the stem leaves, keeled.Sepals thinly membranous, ovate, 2 mm long, connate in the lower third, obtuse; petals 4, white or pale mauve, 2.5 mm long, connate below the middle into a tube, free lobes obovate-oblong, rounded, sometimes apiculate; stamens 4, alternating with the petals, filaments adherent to the petal bases, anthers at the top of the petal-tube; style very short, stigma 3–4-branched. Capsule dehiscing in the lower quarter, lid thinly cartilaginous, pallid, 2–2.5 mm high; seeds 0.6 mm long, grey with a slight metallic sheen, testa cells domed in neat concentric rings, often with a slight central tubercle, cell surface with low papillae.