Muraltia empetroides Chodat

A branched undershrub, erect or spreading, 10.0-20.0 cm high. Young stems setose, hispid or hispidulous. Leaves solitary or fasciculate, flat or slightly channelled, spine-tipped, the spine straight or slightly recurved, the margin and projecting midrib below setose or rough; the primary elliptical, lanceolate or spathulate; the secondary similar but slightly narrower and tapering more towards the base. Bracts 0.4-0.5 mm long, deltoid, concave, obtuse or sub-acute, minutely and sparsely ciliate. Flowers 4.0-5.0 mm long, pink, sessile or nearly so. Sepals glabrous, usually ciliate, acute, spine-tipped, the spine straight, the two anterior smaller than the others; the outer ovate or lanceolate, concave; the inner elliptical, almost flat, about half as long as the side petals. Side petals somewhat shorter than the carina, linear-lanceolate, obtuse or refuse, widest near the middle. Claw of the carina about as long as the limb; the line of attachment of the crest of medium length, almost vertical, the width of the crest less than the length of the carina, the upper and lower lobes somewhat similar, the lower projecting forward. Ovary shortly hairy above, the horns visible: the anterior style branch small, the posterior well developed at right angles to the style, the stigma straight or oblique. Capsule rather broad, the horns slender, tapering, all parts hispidulous or rough. Seed broadly ellipsoidal, softly and sparsely hairy, the caruncle with two small oblique membranous lobes.