Diascia batteniana K.E.Steiner

Annual herb, glabrous, simple or branching from the base, stems up to 380 mm long, erect or ascending, more or less naked for most of their length, quadrangular in cross-section with sides up to 2.3 mm long. Basal leaves few to many, rosulate or crowded, simple, petiolate, lamina 5.2-63.7 mm long x 2.1-12.4 mm wide, ovate, elliptic or obovate, apex rounded to acute, base attenuate, margins except for first few leaves, deeply lobed or divided, lobes or divisions up to 6.5 x 5.1 mm, ovate or oblong-ovate to deltoid, entire, apices rounded to attenuate, petioles 3-12 mm long; stem leaves 3-6 subverticillate, similar to basal leaves, but smaller and more deeply and sharply divided, lamina up to 21 mm long. Flowers axillary, one to four open per stem, scent very weak or absent, pedicels 19-67 mm long, ascending dorsi-ventrally compressed especially where attached to the flower, often recurved or spreading during capsule development (especially those arising from the basal leaves) and ascending again at time of dehiscence. Calyx lobes five, more or less equal, ca. 2.5-3.0 x 1.0-1.3 mm, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, apex acute, margins white ciliate, all lobes weakly reflexed or upper lobe spreading and others weakly reflexed. Corolla bilabiate, limb ca. 12.9-20.7 mm long x 12.9-20.8 mm wide; upper lobes ca. 3.1-4.8 x 4.3-6.3 mm, very widely oblong-ovate, apex rounded to emarginate, base oblique, lateral lobes ca. 3.5-6.0 x 4.1-6.5 mm, oblong-ovate to widely ovate, apex emarginate, base oblique, lower lobe ca. 4.4-7.5 x 5.5-9.8 mm, broadly obovate and emarginate to obcordate; all lobes greyish magenta with dark magenta bases on front and purple with purplish pink blotches on backs, glandular puberulent, especially at base of lobes and in adjacent tube; tube at base of upper lobes, ca. 3.5-3.8 mm long, dark magenta with 3-5 discrete or partially coalesced yellow translucent spots, spots larger on outside of corolla; tube at base of lower corolla lobe ca. 1.8-3.0 mm long, dark magenta, drawn out behind the lateral lobes into two spurs, spurs ca. 7.2-9.5 mm x 2.4-2.9 mm (at base), curving forward and tapering towards the tips, containing stalked or subsessile oil-secreting trichomes on the posticous wall in the distal half; central portion of tube turned out to form a stamen-bearing boss, boss ca. 1.1-1.5 mm high anticous to the stamens and 1.5-2.0 mm posticous to the stamens, narrowed posticous to stamens to form a septum that connects to base of upper lip, septum ca. 2.0-2.3 mm long, both boss and septum glandular pubescent and deep to dark magenta except for wedge-shaped patch of yellow on boss posticous to stamens. Stamens four, projecting forward from the boss, densely pubescent with oblong or clavate dark purple trichomes, anticous filaments (appearing to be posticous) ca. 2.6-2.8 mm long, curved, posticous filaments ca. 1.2-1.4 mm long with a slight knobby protrusion or swelling ca. 0.4 mm from the base, anthers ca. 0.6-0.9 mm long, strongly cohering, yellow. Ovary ca 1.6-1.9 x 0.8-1.0 mm, oblong-ovate in outline, laterally compressed, ovules ca. 45-75, style ca. 1.2-1.3 mm long, more or less straight and deflected forward from the base or curving forward at the tip, reddish purple except at the tip; stigma surrounded by cohering anthers. Capsule 4.6-8.5(-10.0) x 1.9-2.4 mm, narrowly ovate to ovate in outline. Seeds ca. 0.63-0.70 mm long, strongly curved with the two ends nearly meeting in the middle, reniform in lateral view, dorsal surface with parallel ridges.