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.

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.

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.