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Herbs, the stems slender, weak, glabrous to puberulent, smooth, the nodes well spaced, to 4.5 cm apart. Leaves sessile or subsessile, narrowly elliptic, often slightly inequilateral and curved, 1.5-5.5 cm long, 0.2-0.7 cm wide, attenuate acute at the apex and the base, the costa immersed or scarcely prominulous above, prominulous beneath, the lateral veins ca. 4, slender, strongly arcuate ascending, evanescent, membranous, smooth, minutely and sparsely puberulent above and beneath, the hairs strigose; stipules subulate and bifid, ca. 3 mm long, reflexed. Flowers not seen. Fruits subrotund, didymous, to 3 mm long, glabrous, the raphides numerous, the calycine cup short, the teeth 4, well spaced, acute, to 0.3 mm long; seeds numerous, ca. 0.2 mm long.
Leaf blades 1–6 x 0.2–1.2 cm., linear to linear-lanceolate, less often elliptic or lanceolate, acute at the apex, cuneate at the base, scabridulous above near the margins, glabrous beneath or with midvein scabridulous; petioles not developed, very short and adnate to the stipule sheath which is 1 mm. long and bears 2–5 linear fimbriae 1.5 mm. long.
A straggling annual herb. It branches from the base into simple stems. These are 20-60 cm long. The leaves are opposite or in rings of 3. They are narrowly sword shaped. The flowers usually occur singly. The fruit is a flattened capsule. It is 2-3 mm long and has a beak.
Perennial (rarely annual) straggling or prostrate herb, often much branched near the base into almost simple stems, (5)20–60(90) cm. long, which sometimes root at the nodes, glabrous or in some variants scabridulous when young; sometimes forming loose mats.
Flowers not heterostylous, often solitary at the nodes (pseudo-axillary) or sometimes several at the nodes but then these actually borne on very reduced axillary shoots; pedicels slender, 0.5–3 cm. long, glabrous or scabridulous.
Calyx tube 0.8 mm. tall, 1.5 mm. wide, bowl-shaped, glabrous or with scattered very short hairs; lobes 1–1.8 mm. long, triangular, acuminate at the apex, glabrous or sparsely scabridulous.
Capsule 2.2–3 mm. tall including the 1 mm. tall beak, 3.2–5 mm. wide, depressed subglobose, grooved at the middle.
Corolla white, sometimes tinged pink or purple; tube 1 mm. long, glabrous inside; lobes 1–2 mm. long, triangular.
Prostrate or straggling, branched near the base and branches almost simple, 1-2 ft. long
Style slightly longer than the tube; stigma lobes 0.7–1.4 mm. long.
Seeds pale brown, angular, 0.3–0.4 mm. long, strongly reticulate.
Flowers white, sometimes pale pink or mauve
