Lachnaea rupestris Beyers

Low, straggling, moderately branched shrub up to 0.2 m tall, single-stemmed at base branching near ground; reseeder. Branches ascending to patent, slender, terete, internodes 1/3 to as long as leaves, clothed with short crisped hairs admixed with short, retrorse ones, leafy, later glabrescent and naked without prominent leaf scars. Leaves decussate, subadpressed or ascending, scattered, sessile, epistomatic, lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 3.0-5.4 x 0.6-1.0 mm, coriaceous; adaxially concave, enervate, dull; abaxially convex, often subkeeled in upper half, glossy, glabrous; apex rounded or subacute; base rounded; distal 2 leaf pairs subverticillate, partially enclosing inflorescence, broader than other leaves, bract-like, coriaceous, green, or green with maroon tinge, glabrous; adaxially concave; abaxially convex keeled in upper half; elliptic to widely elliptic or obovate to widely obovate, 3.2-5.0 x 1.6-2.9 mm; margin ciliate; apex mucronulate or acute. Inflorescence a terminal, sessile, 12-22-flowered, pseudobracteate umbel with 3-5 open flowers at a time, 5-7 mm diam., on main flowering branches or also on a few, short, lateral branches immediately below main inflorescence forming a compact glomerule at apex of main flowering branch; umbel appears to be enclosed by 2 pairs of involucral bracts with ciliate margin, but vegetative shoots develop in axils of these bract-like leaves, although new shoots mostly arise from axils of subdistal pair of bract-like leaves. Flowers subactinomorphic, mauve or cream with mauve tinge, pedicellate. Pedicel dorso-ventrally flattened, abaxially produced beyond point of attachment of flower (more noticeable in fruiting stage), oblong, 0.4-1.2 mm long, slightly elongating in fruiting stage, villous. Hypanthium 2.0-2.5 mm long, circumscissile 2/3-1/2 from base; upper portion funnel-shaped, sericeous outside, adpressed hirsute inside; basal portion ellipsoid, outside for most part glabrous but in vicinity of circumscission zone puberulous, inside glabrous. Sepals patent, subequal, ovate to elliptic,1.6-1.9 x 0.0.8-1.4 mm, apex subacute or rounded, adaxially sparsely adpressed hairy or glabrous, abaxially sericeous. Stamens exserted; outer, antesepalous whorl arising at base of sepals; inner, antepetalous whorl arising on rim of hypanthium, shorter than outer whorl; outer filaments 1.0-1.2 mm long, inner 0.7-0.9 mm long; anthers widely ellipsoid to spheroid, 0.3-0.4 mm long, abaxially without broad connective tissue. Floral scales exserted, arising immediately below antepetalous stamens in mouth of hypanthium, narrowly obovoid or narrowly ellipsoid, 0.4-0.6 mm long, glabrous. Ovary ellipsoid, ±1.0 mm long, glabrous. Style terete-obconical, 1.9-2.2 mm long, covered with silky ascending hairs in upper half. Stigma brush-like.