Chaenostoma halimifolium Benth.

Ultimately a twiggy gnarled dwarf shrublet, but will flower when young and then looks like an annual or an herbaceous perennial, taproot eventually forming a woody caudex up to c. 10 mm diam. at the crown, sometimes becoming several-crowned, branches up to 50-350 mm long, erect or decumbent, leafy, thickly to thinly clad in almost sessile glistening vesicular hairs that also clothe leaves, bracts, pedicels and calyces, minute glandular hairs sometimes present as well. Leaves opposite, bases connate, largest c. 7-25(-30) x 1.5-5(-12) mm, elliptic tapering to a short petiolar part, subacute or acute, margins entire or with 1-8 pairs of teeth, teeth minute to pronounced, texture often leathery, herbaceous in some larger leaves. Flowers in long racemes terminating every branch, thus loosely panicled. Bracts usually sharply differentiated from the leaves, occasionally the lowermost one or two pairs of flowers in axils of uppermost leaves, lowermost bracts (as opposed to leaves) c. 1.5-6 x 0.8-1.5 mm, lanceolate to ovate, acute. Pedicels (lowermost) 5-20 mm long. Calyx obscurely bilabiate, tube 0.7-1 mm long, lobes 1.6-2.5 x 0.5-1 mm. Corolla tube 3-5(5.5-7.5) x 3-4 mm in throat, broadly funnel-shaped, limb almost regular, 7-10 mm across, posticous lobes 2-3.2 x 2-3 mm, anticous lobe 3-4 x 2.3-3.5 mm, all oblong-orbicular, shades of pink or mauve, occasionally white, tube yellow, glandular-puberulous outside, hairs up to 0.15 mm long, these hairs sometimes wanting, glistening glands always present, clavate hairs inside in 5 longitudinal bands. Stamens 4, all exserted, anthers 0.8-1.3 mm long, posticous filaments 1.7-2.2(-3) mm long, anticous filaments (2.2-2.8)2.7-5 mm long. Stigma 1.5-2.5 mm long, exserted. Style 2.5-4 mm long. Ovary 1-1.5 x 0.6-1.1 mm, with glistening glands on sutures and often on upper half as well. Capsules c. 3.5-4 x 2-2.5 mm, glistening glands persistent. Seeds c. 0.5-0.8 x 0.3-0.4 mm, pallid or blue-grey. Flowering occurs principally between September and April.