Flora of North America species comparison

fibrous or fusiform, sometimes fascicled.

prostrate or decumbent and ascending at tips, subterete or with raised lines decurrent from leaf axils, well branched, 10–50(–70) cm, glabrous or, sometimes, minutely strigillose on leaf margins and inflorescence.

subterete to scarcely angled, with narrow raised lines or wings decurrent from leaf axils, 30–90 cm, simple or sparsely branched distally, strigillose to sometimes glabrate.

opposite;

stipules narrowly deltate, 0.05–0.1 × 0.05–0.1 mm;

petiole narrowly winged, 0.1–2.5 cm, blade narrowly to broadly elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 0.5–4.5 × 0.3–2.3 cm, base abruptly attenuate, margins entire and minutely strigillose, apex subacute, surfaces glabrous;

bracts not reduced.

stipules narrowly deltate, 0.05–0.2 × 0.05–0.1 mm;

sessile;

blade ovate proximally, lanceolate to lanceolate-linear distally, (2–)3–8 × 0.3–1.5 cm, base cuneate, margins entire, apex acute, surfaces glabrate to strigillose or hirsute;

bracts usually much reduced, sublinear.

leafy spikes or racemes, flowers usually paired in leaf axils of prostrate stems;

bracteoles attached at base or to 2.5 mm distal to base of ovary, sublinear, 0.3–1(–1.8) × 0.1–0.8 mm.

sparse racemes, flowers solitary in leaf axils;

bracteoles attached in subopposite pairs on distal 1/3 of pedicel, lanceolate-linear, 0.7–3.2(–5) × 0.2–0.5 mm, margins entire, apex acute, surfaces strigillose.

sepals ascending, green, ovate-deltate, 1.1–2 × 1–2.1 mm, margins finely serrulate with minute hairs, apex acuminate, sometimes with blunt tip, surfaces glabrous;

petals 0;

filaments translucent, 0.4–0.6 mm, anthers 0.2–0.4 × 0.3–0.6 mm;

pollen shed singly;

ovary oblong, 1.5–3.5 × 1–2 mm, glabrate;

nectary disc elevated 0.15–0.3 mm on ovary apex, green, 1–2 mm diam., 4-lobed, glabrous;

style pale green, 0.3–0.7 mm, glabrous, stigma subglobose or capitate, 0.4–0.6 × 0.2–0.4 mm, not exserted beyond anthers.

sepals often spreading, ovate-deltate, (4.5–)5.5–8(–9) × 3–5 mm, margins entire, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces strigillose;

petals cordate, 9–12 × 8–10 mm, base attenuate, apex emarginate;

filaments yellow, awl-shaped, 1.9–3.2 mm, anthers 1.2–2.5 × 0.4–0.7 mm;

ovary subcuboid or globose, 3–4.5 × 3–4 mm;

nectary disc elevated, domed, 0.9–1.3 mm diam., prominently 4-lobed, ringed with sparse, spreading hairs;

style 1.5–3.3 mm, glabrous, stigma capitate to hemispherical, 0.6–1.2 × 1.4–1.9 mm, shallowly 4-lobed, not exserted beyond anthers.

oblong obovoid, 4-angled, (1.6–)2–5 × 1.5–3(–3.5) mm, thin-walled, irregularly dehiscent or dispersing as unit, pedicel 0–0.5 mm.

subcuboid to squarish globose, 4–7 ×4–5 mm, 4-angled, often also 4-winged, wings 0.3–1.2 mm wide, pedicel 5–17 mm.

yellowish brown, ellipsoid, 0.5–0.7 × 0.3–0.4 mm, surface cells transversely elongate.

light brown, oblong to reniform, 0.4–0.6 ×0.2–0.4 mm, surface cells elongate transversely to seed length, except may be parallel to seed length near raphe.

= 16.

= 16.