Annual or short-lived perennial herb with a slender taproot and numerous, decumbent, filiform, sparsely pubescent stems up to about 15 cm long. Leaves opposite, except in the inflorescence region where alternate leaves sometimes occur, elliptic to ovate, up to 6 x 4 mm, acute at the apex, narrowing at the base into a short petiole, sparsely pubescent; margin incrassate, with 1-3 denticles on each side; midvein somewhat protruding beneath. Inflorescence frondose, one-to few-flowered, with the flowers terminal or in dichotomous forks; pedicels filiform, up to 6-18 mm long, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Hypanthium hemispherical, ca. 8-nerved, glabrous. Calyx-lobes 4, 1.2-1.6 mm long, narrowly triangular, entire, with hyaline tips and somewhat incrassate margins, glabrous. Corolla ca. 2.8-3.2 mm long, 4-lobed to about one third of the length, maroon, glabrous. Stamens 4, with the filament-bases almost linear, glabrous; anthers ca. 0.8 mm long, apiculate. Ovary subinferior, 2-locular. Style about equalling the corolla-tube, eglandular, glabrous except for the pollen-collecting hairs; lobes 2, ±0.3 mm long. Capsule 2-locular, with 2 thin low valves. Seeds elliptic in outline, ca. 1 mm long; testa narrowly reticulate, pale brown.
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