Annual herb; stem generally simple but sometimes shortly branched at apex, usually slender but sometimes up to 5 mm. in diameter, ± widening at the apex, hairy. Leaves in 1 or, in stout plants, up to 5 rosettes at apex of stem or branches, 2–15 cm. long, 5–21-jugate, sensitive to touch, the leaflets closing together upwards; leaflets subsessile, the apical ones usually the largest, 1–1.5 times the length of next pair, decreasing in size downwards, the largest obliquely obovate, the others obliquely rectangular, rounded at the apex but sometimes abruptly and shortly apiculate, truncate at the base, pubescent on both surfaces or glabrous except at the ciliate margin; lateral nerves ± inconspicuous from above, thin but distinct from beneath, usually twice as many in the lower half as in the upper half (halves in relation to leaf-rhachis); petiole and rhachis pubescent. Flowers in peduncled 3–10-flowered pseudumbels; peduncles usually longer than the leaves, pubescent; bracts 2 mm. long, acutely acuminate, 1-nerved, pubescent; pedicels up to 7 mm.long, pubescent, sometimes glandular hairy, articulate up to 3 mm. above the point of insertion, so that when the upper parts drop off the basal stumps are seen among the bracts. Sepals 4–5 mm. long, acutely acuminate, 3–5-nerved, pubescent, sometimes also with a few glandular hairs. Petals spathulate, 1.5–2 times as long as the sepals, white, yellow or pinkish-purple, glabrous. Filaments shortly connate at the base. Ovary deeply 5-lobed; styles hairy near the base, glabrous towards the apex and shortly bifid. Capsule obovoid, 3 mm. long and 2 mm. in diameter. Seeds flattened-ellipsoid, small, up to 0.5 mm. long, rugose, brown. Fig. 2/C, p. 13.
