Information

An erect herb with thick, woody, gnarled, reddish-brown, perennial stems 1 cm. or more thick; and with annual shoots, green becoming red below, puberulous to thickly pubescent, 20–40 cm. tall, strictly erect or diffuse, 3–4 mm. thick. Ocreae 3–7 mm. long, pubescent, truncate, terminally membranous and fringed with reddish-brown, bristly setae 6–8 mm. long; the leaf inserted in the upper half but often as much as 3 mm. from the apex. Leaves sessile, erect-patent, linear to narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, 20–30 × 1–6 (–10) mm., glabrous to thickly pubescent, terminating in a readily deciduous awn 1–2 mm. long. Inflorescence slender, moderately elongated, up to 20 cm. long, the stalk glabrous to thickly pubescent. Bracts 3–4 mm. long, pubescent or glabrous; terminally membranous or mainly so, truncate but dorsally produced and narrowed into a bristly, pubescent seta 3–4 mm. long with or without 1–2 lateral setae. Pedicels glabrous or pubescent with white hairs, exceeding the bracts by 2–4 mm.; those of ♂ flowers withering; those of hermaphrodite flowers lengthening and thickening. Flowers 1–3 to each bract. Tepals white, 3–4 mm. long, oblong-linear to elliptic-lanceolate. Anthers blue or bluish. Styles of short-styled flowers 1 mm. long; of long-styled flowers 3–5 mm. long, connate for ⅔ their length. Fruit pubescent, 6 mm. long, bluntly trigonous, lanceolate-ampulliform, broadest below the middle, unarmed, with 2–3 longitudinal ridges down each face and with transverse ridges when ripe. Fig. 5/79, p. 29.

Information

An erect herb with thick, woody, gnarled, reddish-brown, perennial stems 1 cm. or more thick; and with annual shoots, green becoming red below, puberulous to thickly pubescent, 20–40 cm. tall, strictly erect or diffuse, 3–4 mm. thick. Ocreae 3–7 mm. long, pubescent, truncate, terminally membranous and fringed with reddish-brown, bristly setae 6–8 mm. long; the leaf inserted in the upper half but often as much as 3 mm. from the apex. Leaves sessile, erect-patent, linear to narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, 20–30 × 1–6 (–10) mm., glabrous to thickly pubescent, terminating in a readily deciduous awn 1–2 mm. long. Inflorescence slender, moderately elongated, up to 20 cm. long, the stalk glabrous to thickly pubescent. Bracts 3–4 mm. long, pubescent or glabrous; terminally membranous or mainly so, truncate but dorsally produced and narrowed into a bristly, pubescent seta 3–4 mm. long with or without 1–2 lateral setae. Pedicels glabrous or pubescent with white hairs, exceeding the bracts by 2–4 mm.; those of ♂ flowers withering; those of hermaphrodite flowers lengthening and thickening. Flowers 1–3 to each bract. Tepals white, 3–4 mm. long, oblong-linear to elliptic-lanceolate. Anthers blue or bluish. Styles of short-styled flowers 1 mm. long; of long-styled flowers 3–5 mm. long, connate for ⅔ their length. Fruit pubescent, 6 mm. long, bluntly trigonous, lanceolate-ampulliform, broadest below the middle, unarmed, with 2–3 longitudinal ridges down each face and with transverse ridges when ripe. Fig. 5/79, p. 29.

Information

An erect herb with thick, woody, gnarled, reddish-brown, perennial stems 1 cm. or more thick; and with annual shoots, green becoming red below, puberulous to thickly pubescent, 20–40 cm. tall, strictly erect or diffuse, 3–4 mm. thick. Ocreae 3–7 mm. long, pubescent, truncate, terminally membranous and fringed with reddish-brown, bristly setae 6–8 mm. long; the leaf inserted in the upper half but often as much as 3 mm. from the apex. Leaves sessile, erect-patent, linear to narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, 20–30 × 1–6 (–10) mm., glabrous to thickly pubescent, terminating in a readily deciduous awn 1–2 mm. long. Inflorescence slender, moderately elongated, up to 20 cm. long, the stalk glabrous to thickly pubescent. Bracts 3–4 mm. long, pubescent or glabrous; terminally membranous or mainly so, truncate but dorsally produced and narrowed into a bristly, pubescent seta 3–4 mm. long with or without 1–2 lateral setae. Pedicels glabrous or pubescent with white hairs, exceeding the bracts by 2–4 mm.; those of ♂ flowers withering; those of hermaphrodite flowers lengthening and thickening. Flowers 1–3 to each bract. Tepals white, 3–4 mm. long, oblong-linear to elliptic-lanceolate. Anthers blue or bluish. Styles of short-styled flowers 1 mm. long; of long-styled flowers 3–5 mm. long, connate for ⅔ their length. Fruit pubescent, 6 mm. long, bluntly trigonous, lanceolate-ampulliform, broadest below the middle, unarmed, with 2–3 longitudinal ridges down each face and with transverse ridges when ripe. Fig. 5/79, p. 29.