Manulea aridicola Hilliard

Annual herb, stems few to many from the base, c. 50-270 mm tall, erect, eventually well branched from the base and above, puberulous with a mixture of balloon-and gland-tipped hairs up to 0.2 mm long, apical cell of balloon-tipped hairs up to 0.05 mm in diam., remotely leafy. Leaves at base of plant opposite, bases connate, becoming alternate upwards and gradually passing into bracts, main leaves c. 10-36 x 3-12 mm, elliptic tapering into a petiolar part c. 4-30 mm long (nearly equalling to roughly half the length of the blade), rapidly smaller upwards and ± sessile, apex obtuse to subacute, margins obscurely to distinctly serrate, both surfaces minutely glandular-puberulous, hairs up to c. 0.2 mm long, occasional balloon-tipped hairs also present. Flowers many in narrow thyrses soon cymosely branched into panicles, cymules 2-many-flowered, mostly dichasial. Bracts (lowermost) leaf-like in all but the smaller plants. Pedicels up to c. 5 mm long, but mostly very short. Calyx obscurely bilabiate, tube 0.2-0.4 mm long, lobes 2-2.4 x 0.4-0.6 mm, linear-lanceolate, acute, puberulous all over with a mixture of gland-and balloon-tipped hairs up to 0.1-0.2 mm long. Corolla tube 2.4-2.8 x 0.7-0.9 mm in throat, cylindric, expanded above, limb bilabiate, 5-8 mm across lateral lobes, which ascend, leaving the anticous lobe somewhat isolated,posticous lobes 2.6-5 x 0.5-0.9 mm, anticous lobe 2.14 x 0.3-0.8 mm, all lobes long-lanceolate, subulate to eye, margins revolute, dull pale yellow to orange, back of tube yellow/orange often with a dark violet patch between the posticous filaments, tube and backs of lobes puberulous outside with balloon-tipped hairs less than 0.1 mm long, inside with 3 longitudinal posticous bands of clavate hairs. Stamens 4, anticous anthers 0.2-0.3 mm long, just visible in mouth, posticous anthers 0.5-0.7 mm long, included, filaments glabrous. Stigma 0.6-1 mm long, included. Style 0.1-0.3 mm long, shorter than stigma. Ovary 0.7-1 x 0.5-0.6 mm. Capsules c. 2.5-4 x 1.75-2.5 mm. Seeds 0.5-0.8 x 0.3-0.4 mm, violet-blue or pallid. All collections, some well on in fruit, were made in September.