Herbs erect, often stout, annual. Stems 15-130 cm tall, well-branched, subglabrous or finely puberulous. Petiole 3-15 mm; leaf blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly lanceolate, 1-10 × 0.4-2.5 cm, subglabrous or puberulous, lateral veins 8-13 per side, submarginal vein inconspicuous, base narrowly cuneate, apex acuminate. Sepals 4 or 5, rarely 6, deltate, 1.5-4.5 mm, puberulous. Petals yellow, obovate, 1.8-2 × 0.7-1.2 mm. Stamens as many as sepals; filaments 0.5-1.2 mm; anthers 0.4-0.7 mm; pollen in monads. Style 0.5-1.2 mm; stigma globose. Capsule light brown, sublinear and terete, 1-2.8 cm, 1-2 mm in diam., puberulous, relatively thinly walled, wall often detaching at maturity, leaving columns of seeds attached to vascular strands; subsessile. Seeds in 1 or 2 rows per locule, each locule loosely enclosed in a column of spongy, light brown endocarp that disintegrates easily into 1-or 2-seeded units, light brown with dark red-brown stripes, 0.8-1.4 mm, raphe inconspicuous. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Jun-Oct. 2n = 48*.
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