Roella compacta Schltr.

Stems woody, prostrate with ascending tips, branched mostly from the base, 10-30 cm. long. Young stems densely hairy, almost completely hidden by the crowded squarrose leaves and axillary fascicles of smaller leaves. Leaves 4-9 mm. long, 1-4 mm. wide, strongly revolute, acute or almost pungent, entire or with 1-2 pairs of lateral teeth, the margins and sometimes the underside with stout setose hairs. Flowers in terminal heads, 1-5-3 cm. across. Bracts much broader than the leaves, coarsely ciliate, with strongly revolute margins, the outermost pinnately toothed, the inner folded round the flower, with 5 almost equal teeth. Bracts often hispid on the back. Calyx lobes longer than the bracts, 3-7 mm. long, lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous. Corolla pale blue or white, yellowish on fading, about 1 cm. long, campanulate, the lobes as long as the tube. Style slightly thickened below the stigma. Ovary glabrous.