HYPERTELIS spergulaceaE. Mey. [family MOLLUGINACEAE], in Hb. Drege
Information
suffruticose, stems ascending; lower leaves crowded, linear wedge-shaped; cauline remotely whorled, narrow-linear; stipulary sheaths short; peduncles, pedicels and calyces quite smooth; stamens 20–30; most of them united at base into 3–5 parcels, a few free; seeds lenticular. Habit of Spergula or of Pharnaceum lineare. A glabrous, glaucous suffrutex, about a foot high. Root whitish. Leaves at the base of stem fleshy, 6–8 lines long, 1/2–1 line wide. Stems simple or forked, branches filiform, rigid. Leaves 5–10 in a whorl, at the tumid nodes, unequal, 4–8 lines long. Peduncles 1–2 1/2 inches long, sub-umbellate; pedicels 6–12 lines long, very slender. Sepals oval-elliptic, 2–3 lines wide. Capsule as long as calyx. Seeds shining, black. Easily known from the preceding by its long stems, remotely whorled (not crowded) leaves, and absence of tubercles.
Distribution
SOUTH AFRICA Stony places near Verleptram, Gariep, Drege! (Herb. Sond.)