Annual or sometimes short-lived rhizomatous perennial herb, 8–50 cm high.. Roots haustoria-like, short and fragile.. Stem simple or branched near the inflorescence, ridges smooth, shortly winged.. Leaves sessile, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, scale-like towards the base of stem (± 0.6 mm long), increasing towards apex of stem to 18–22 mm long, 6–13 mm wide, subobtuse or acute, spreading.. Inflorescence a few-flowered cyme (sometimes flower solitary); pedicels 7–13(–30) mm long.. Flowers 5-merous, regular, heterostylous, white, pale yellow or orange-yellow.. Calyx lobes free to base, imbricate, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 17–22 mm long, 5.6–7.2 mm wide, leathery, ± transparent or hyaline, acute or acuminate, with one row of minute colleters at the base; calyx wing up to 2 mm wide.. Corolla tube 13–26 mm long, contracted above ovary; lobes elliptic, 6–20 mm long, 5.1–8 mm wide, acute.. Short-styled flowers: filaments 14.5 mm long, inserted ± 14.5 mm below the corolla sinuses; anthers ± 3 mm long, free, each with a shortly stipitate apical gland measuring 0.6–1.2 mm long and two small shortly stipitate basal glands; style very short, 0.2 mm long, stigma clavate, bilobed, 2.5–3.2 mm long, papillate, below anthers.. Medium-styled flowers: filaments± 5 mm long, inserted at ± 11.2 mm below the corolla sinuses; anthers ± 3.2 mm long, free, each with a 0.3 mm long stipitate globose apical gland and two small, globose basal glands; style less than 0.3 mm long; stigma clavate, 4–4.8 mm long, papillate, ± level with anthers.. Long-styled flowers: filaments ± 1.5 mm long or slightly longer, inserted at 7.2 mm below the corolla sinuses; anthers 1.4 mm long, free or sometimes adhering, each with a 0.3 mm long, shortly stipitate, globose apical gland and two small, stipitate basal glands; style 0.5 mm long; stigma 4–8 mm long, clavate, papillate, bilobed, overtopping anthers.. Ovary 5–7 mm long, globose to obovoid.. Capsulesubglobose.. Seeds to 0.3 mm in diameter; surface reticulate-pitted.. Fig. 3 (p. 14).
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Flowers white, pale-yellow with slight-orange tinge, orange-yellow to brownish, solitary, terminal or in few flowered cymes with long branches, heterostylous: short-styled flowers with the anthers exceeding the stigma; medium-styled flowers with the anthers at the level of the stigma and long styled flowers with the stamens shorter than the stigma.
Corolla tube 12–30 mm. long, broadly cylindrical, the lower portion enlarged in fruit, narrowed above the ovary, widening again from the point of insertion of the filaments, puberulous on the external face; lobes 5–20 x 3–14 mm., obovate-oblong to subcircular, acute and apiculate.
Stamens included, inserted in the corolla tube; filaments 0.3–4.5 mm. long; anthers 0.6–1.5 mm. long, oblong with a narrowly clavate, stipitate 0.75–1.5 mm. long, apical gland and 2 small rounded basal glands.
Calyx segments 4–5, 7–22.5 x 1–4 (5) mm. long, lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, long acuminate, dorsally broadly winged, wing up to 2 mm. broad near the base narrowing towards the apex.
Leaves 5–40 x 2.5–10 mm., lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at the apex, the lower ones often reduced and scale-like.
Ovary 5–6 mm. long, globose or obovoid; style 3.5–6 mm. long; stigma claviform-oblong, papillate.
Erect annual, more rarely perennial rhizomatous herbs up to 40 cm. tall.
Stem unbranched or sometimes branched from the base, 4-ridged.
Seed 0.1–0.2 mm. in diam., cubical; testa faveolate.
Capsule 7–8 mm. in diam., subglobose.
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