Hermannia desertorum Eckl. & Zeyh.

Suffrutex, usually heavily browsed, if protected, about 60 cm tall with slender, divaricate branchlets becoming indurated, branches chestnut-brown, drying dark brown or with slight metallic sheen, young growth with a fine, greyish, sericeous tomentum made up of microscopic fringed scales and stellate hairs. Stipules subulate from a broad base or ovate-cuspidate, 2-3 mm long, covered with a thin grey tomentum. Leaves shortly petiolate; limb suborbicular, broadly cuneate into the petiole, from 5 x 5 mm to 8 x 7 mm, plicate at first and covered by a thin greyish rather sericeous tomentum, becoming glabrescent on upper surface, older leaves sometimes stellate-pubescent on both sides, broadly rounded at apex, deeply and broadly crenate except at base; petiole 2-5 mm long, pubescence as on leaf undersurface. Inflorescence terminal, in few-flowered, racemose cymes, (sometimes 1-flowered and secund-hybrids?); peduncles and pedicels varying from very short, about 2 mm long, to 5 mm long, pubescence as on young branchlets; bracts 1.5-2.5 mm long, rather thick, broadly ovate to subulate from a broad base. Calyx thin-textured in dried specimens, subinflated, 5-gibbose, about 5 mm long, wide at mouth, lobed to near middle, finely pubescent with minute fringed scales. Petals yellow, minutely papillose within, upper half more or less oblong-orbicular, abruptly narrowed into a waist and produced below in a claw with margins inrolled, claw sometimes strongly arcuate, appears glabrous, but a few microscopic hairs present. Stamens 4-5 mm long, with obovate-oblong, hyaline filaments which appear to be glabrous but have microscopic hairs on shoulders, united at base; anthers ciliate, overlapping filaments at base. Ovary broad, 5-lobed, very shortly stipitate, finely stellate-tomentose. Capsule about 4 x 4.5 mm, stellate-tomentose, shallowly 5-lobed.