Pharnaceum serpyllifolium L.F.

A small slender much branched herb forming low tangles. Stems more or less prostrate, 3-5 cm long. Leaves basal and in whorls of 2-3 along the stem, usually opposite on the flowering shoots. Basal leaves ovate or oblong, 2-6 mm long, 1-3 mm wide, obtuse, narrowed at the base to a petiole 1-2 mm long. Stem leaves similar but smaller and with a shorter petiole. Stipules about as long as the petioles, completely cut into coarse straight hairs or rigid bristles. Inflorescences terminal and axillary, with few, 1-3 or rarely 5, flowers. Peduncles 3-5 mm long. Pedicels 5-8 mm Perianth segments about 1.5 mm long, greenish-white. Disc very small, 5-lobed, soon withering away. Fruit spherical, as long as the perianth. Seeds 2-3, brown, compressed, finely punctulate, with a thickened border.