Melanospermum transvaalense (Hiern) Hilliard

Annual herb, stems c. 55-220 mm tall, up to c. 1 mm diam. at base, simple or branching both above and below, erect or the outer branches somewhat decumbent, leafy, glandular-puberulous with hairs up to c. 0.3 mm long, patent eglandular hairs also present, few to plentiful, less than 0.5 mm long, the apical cell sometimes swollen and balloon-like. Leaves opposite, sometimes alternate towards the tips of the branches, blade of lowermost ones (which may be withered or wanting at flowering) c. 5-20 x 2.5-5.5 mm, elliptic, tapering to a flat petiolar part c. 3.5-17 mm long, from twice as long to half as long as the blade, upper margins either entire or with 1-3 pairs of teeth, indumentum variable, often both surfaces nearly glabrous except for a few coarse eglandular hairs up to 0.4 mm long on the lower margins and midline, or sometimes glandular-puberulous all over or with a mixture of short glandular and eglandular hairs, leaf surface always glandular-punctate; stem leaves much narrower than the basal leaves, c. 5.5-40 x 0.5-2 mm, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, narrowed below but not distinctly petiolate, margins entire or with a very few tiny teeth, indumentum as in radical leaves. Flowers many in crowded rounded heads terminating all the branchlets, which are nude towards the tips, the heads elongating in fruit and often becoming very lax. Bracts at base of racemes c. 5-15 x 0.5-1.5(-2) mm, smaller upwards, linear to oblong-lanceolate, usually entire, sometimes with 1 or 2 small teeth, adnate to pedicel only or to extreme base of calyx as well, glandular-puberulous, usually with few to many eglandular hairs as well, these up to c. 0.4 mm long at base of bract. Pedicels up to 0.5-1 mm long. Calyx bilabiate, tube 0.75-1.5 mm long, anticous lobes 1.5-2 x 0.5-0.75 mm, anticous lip split 0.5-0.75 mm, posticous lobes narrower and more deeply separated, whole calyx glandular-puberulous, often with eglandular hairs as well. Corolla tube 2.54 x 0.6-1.25 mm broadening slightly in throat, limb 4-6 mm across the lateral lobes, posticous lobes 1.6 x 0.9-1.4 mm, anticous lobe 2-2.6 x 1-1.8 mm, all lobes elliptic, either glabrous or glandular-puberulous outside, bearded at base of posticous lip and down back of tube, anticous lip white, posticous lip either orange or with an orange patch at the base. Stamens 4, anthers 0.6-0.8 mm long, dark-coloured, all well exserted. Stigma well exserted. Capsules 2-3 x 1-3 mm Seeds many in each loculus, 0.3-0.5 x 0.3-0.5 mm They flower mainly between January and March, but there is one record for September, another for October, when the plants were in fruit; it seems likely therefore that they can continue to flower through winter when the soil is kept damp by seepage.