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Small rosulate annual.. Leaves linear, 0.5–1.5 cm. long, 1–2 mm. wide, minutely papillose, apiculate.. Scapes up to ± 20, straight, 3–12 cm. high, 4-ribbed; sheaths equalling the leaves and similarly papillose, loose, the mouth 2–3-fid.. Capitulum globose to slightly dome-shaped, 3–4 mm. diameter, brown-grey, floral bracts loose with the darker flowers visible between; involucral bracts as wide as the capitulum, pinkish brown with paler margins, scarious, obovate with rounded tips, reflexed at maturity; floral bracts resembling the involucral bracts in colour and texture, oblanceolate to spathulate, glabrous, subacute; receptacle cylindrical, villous; flowers trimerous, 1.0–1.5 mm. long, stipitate.. Male flowers infundibular: calyx spathate with a truncate-erose margin, glabrous; petals included within the calyx, tiny, glabrous and eglandular; anthers black.. Female flowers obtriangular: sepals very unequal, two deeply navicular, the keel gibbous with a pale, thick, spongy wing surrounding a thinner blackish central patch, margins flaring outwards with a few hyaline hairs inside, median sepal reduced, linear, sometimes as long as the other two but usually much shorter, sometimes vestigial; petals linear-oblanceolate, glabrous and eglandular, the median slightly larger.. Seeds ellipsoid, 0.35 mm. long, reddish brown with a white reticulate patterning, glossy.
Small annuals up to 100 mm tall. Leaves rosulate, linear, c. 15 mm long, 1-2 mm broad, apex acute, soft. Capitula usually several, oblong-globose, c. 5 mm in diam., pale to dark brown on erect, long, thin peduncles 100-160 mm long; involucral and floral bracts ovate, obtuse; receptacle cylindrical, with many long, silky hairs. Female flower: sepals 2, c. 2 mm long, lateral, boat-shaped with a broad curved keel consisting of large bulbous cells, with a dark central area, the sides rounded above, attenuated below, enveloping the ripe seed at maturity; petals 3, unequal, narrowly linear, exserted. Ovary on a stipe, 3-locular; style with 3 stigmas. Capsule 3-lobed; seeds ovoid, the testa transversely ribbed, the ribs white-fringed.
Small, annual herb, up to 100 mm tall. Leaves in basal rosettes. Anthers black. Petals with a glabrous margin. Sepals 2, boat-shaped with a convex, distended, papillate keel, protruding laterally from floral bract when in fruit.
