Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Glabrous annual or short lived perennial herbs.

Stems: Stems usually prostrate and often rooting at the nodes, or erect with ascending lateral branches.

Roots: Taprooted.

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate, widely spaced to crowded. Blades linear to narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, (0.2–)0.3–1.5(–2.5) cm long, 0.1–0.6 cm wide. Margins entire. Petioles short, jointed to the blade. Stipules present as an ocreae, hyaline, laciniate, 5–10 mm long.

Flowers: Flowers in a small cluster of 1-5 nearly sessile flowers occurs at the base of each leaf. Flowers bisexual (perfect), actinomorphic, 1–3, axillary. Pedicels filiform, shorter than the ocreae so that the flower and fruit are erect. Tepals (4)5(6), usually petaloid, persistent, green, apex whitish tinged reddish purple, sometimes not opening and perhaps the flower cleistogamous, 3 Tepals arranged over the angle of the nut and the inner 2 on the nut faces. Stamens 3–9, but usually 5, exserted or included; anthers dithecal, opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary superior, (2)3(4)-carpellate, 1-celled; ovule 1; styles 2–3, distinct or connate basally, deciduous; stigmas capitate or rarely fimbriate, dry.

Fruit: Nuts dark brown; trigonous; protruding up to ca. ½ its length from or completely enclosed by the persistent tepals; ca.2–3 mm long; the surface minutely papillose; appearing striate; dull.

Ploidy: 2n = 20; 22; 40; 60

Habitat: Pastures and other disturbed areas.

Elevation Range: 1,000–2,080 m.