Undershrub with numerous, slender shoots from a thick, woody rhizome, up to 40–60 cm. high, unbranched or branched.. Branches glabrous.. Leaves subsessile; leaf-blade needle-like, narrowly lanceolate, margins sometimes slightly inrolled, 6–18 mm. long, 0.5–1.5 mm. wide, erect or ± spreading, sometimes slightly curved, glabrous.. Inflorescence terminal, involucrate, 10–30-flowered.. Bracts (4–)5–8(–9), narrowly lanceolate to ovate, 3–8 mm. long, 1–4 mm. wide, foliaceous or scarious, glabrous or slightly hairy in the middle on the lower side, slightly hairy or puberulous on the upper, greenish or brownish, margins often membranous, reddish and erose.. Flowers yellow or white, 4(–5)-merous; pedicel 1–1.5 mm. long, with stiff, erect hairs up to 3 mm. long.. Calyx-tube 7–10(–12) mm. long, densely pubescent above the articulation, pilose or villous below; lobes ovate to ovate-oblong, often somewhat emarginate, 1–3 mm. long, 0.5–2 mm. wide, puberulous outside.. Petals linear or spathulate, 0.5–1 mm. long, membranous or fleshy.. Anthers subsessile, 0.5–1 mm. long.. Ovary glabrous, 1–1.5 mm. long; style 2–7 mm. long; stigma papillate.. Seed 2–2.5 mm. long, ± 1 mm. wide.. Fig. 6/7 p. 20.
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