Polycarena comptonii Hilliard

Delicate annual herb 20-100 mm tall, stem filiform, simple in smallest plants, branched from the base in larger ones, glandular-puberulous only at the base, but some minute glandular hairs on the inflorescence axes. Leaves: radical leaves 4, rosetted, 4.5-18 x 2.5-9 mm, ovate to elliptic, contracted to a petiolar part, glabrous, margins entire to obscurely toothed; cauline leaves few (only at the branching of the stems), mostly 6-13 x 0.6-1 mm, linear, entire. Flowers loosely arranged in terminal racemes, peduncles filiform, pedicels c. 0.5-1.5 mm long. Bracts 1.75-7 x 0.5-1.5 mm, oblong to lanceolate, glabrous except for a few minute marginal hairs at the base, adnate to lower part of calyx tube (0.6-1 mm). Calyx 2.2-2.6 mm long, lobes very small, entire calyx conspicuously keeled, glabrous except for minute glandular hairs on margins of lobes. Corolla tube 1.5-2 x 0.75-1.2 mm, glabrous, limb c. 2.4 mm across, lobes oblong, obtuse, posticous ones 0.5 x 0.3-0.4 mm, orange with a few minute hairs at base, anticous ones 1-1.4 x 0.6-0.75 mm, white. Stamens either 4, or 2 by abortion of posticous pair, one of these 2 sometimes reduced to a staminode, the anticous well exserted, anthers minute, posticous filaments scarcely decurrent. Stigma exserted. Capsules c. 2.5 x 2 mm Seeds many, c. 0.75 mm long, obscurely trigonous, irregularly colliculate, amber-coloured with a narrow whitish wing strongly to weakly developed.