Herbs, annual; taproots slender. Stems arising directly from the root, spreading to decumbent or prostrate, solid, not fistulose or disarticulating into ringlike segments, tomentose. Leaves deciduous (basal) or persistent (cauline), basal and cauline, alternate; petiole indistinct at proximal node, absent at distal nodes; blade oblanceolate (proximal) or elliptic to ovate (distal), margins entire, apex mucronate. Inflorescences terminal, cymose, distally uniparous due to suppression of secondaries, each node bearing a flower; branches dichotomous, not brittle or disarticulating into segments, round, tomentose; bracts 3, typically situated at base of a cauline leaf and hidden by it, connate basally, linear to linear-lanceolate, somewhat foliaceous or scalelike, awned, thinly pubescent to densely tomentose. Peduncles absent. Involucral bracts obvious, in whorl of 3(-4), linear to lanceolate, awned. Flowers 1 per involucral cluster, sessile or pedicellate; perianth yellowish, broadly campanulate when open, tubular when closed, densely tomentose abaxially; tepals 6, connate proximally, monomorphic, mucronate apically; stamens 6 or 9; filaments basally adnate, glabrous; anthers yellow, oval to oblong. Achenes included, brown to black, not winged, 3-gonous, glabrous. Seeds: embryo curved. x = 21.
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