Cliffortia cruciata C.Whitehouse

Low, erect shrub, up to 0.3 m high, killed by fire; densely divaricately branched, forming brachyblasts; young stems 0.6-0.9 mm wide, tinged reddish, hairy; stem hairs adpressed upwards, 0.2-0.4 mm long. Leaves trifoliate; leaflets linear, 2.7-3.7 x 0.4-0.6 mm, base noticeably swollen and bulbous, apex 0.1-0.2 mm long, margins rounded but slightly grooved, entire and smooth; lamina chartaceous, 0.3-0.5 mm thick, slightly curved upwards and towards stem, green with two paler stripes on each side, glabrous; sheath 0.7-1.0 mm long, abaxially glabrous, adaxially hairy; stipules 0.3-0.8 mm long, free, margins smooth; petiole absent. Flowers solitary at base of undifferentiated leaves; bracteoles hairy on keel, margins ciliate; sepals 4, glabrous. Male flowers: bracteoles 1.2-1.5 mm long; pedicel and receptacle 0.5-0.8 mm long; sepals broadly ovate, 3.4-4.4 x 1.3-2.2 mm, acute to acuminate at apex, tips not completely separating at anthesis; stamens 6 or 7; filaments 1.2-2.0 mm long, red; anthers brownish red. Female flowers: bracteoles 1.3-1.7 mm long, shorter than immature receptacle; sepals 0.8-1.2 x 0.2-0.4 mm, erect; carpel 1; stigma 1.4-2.6 mm long, red to pinkish, feathery, hidden within leaves; immature receptacle 1.3-2.7 x 0.6-1.1 mm, glabrous, clearly ribbed. Achene broadly ellipsoid, 3.8-4.7 x 1.7-2.0 mm, medium brown, glabrous; ribs 4, rounded, ± 0.6 mm wide, slightly tuberculate. Flowering time: around September.