矮蝇子草 ai ying zi cao

Herbs annual, 3--15 cm, glabrous. Stems erect, simple or much branched at base. Leaves sessile, lanceolate-linear or lanceolate, 2--3.5 cm × 2--6 mm, margin ciliate with curved hairs, base cuneate, apex acute or obtuse. Dichasial cymes (1-to) few flowered. Pedicel subequaling to 3 × as long as calyx, usually curved at late anthesis; bracts lanceolate. Calyx greenish, ovoid-campanulate, ca. 10 × 3.5 mm, umbilicate at base; calyx teeth triangular-lanceolate, ca. 1/4 as long as calyx, margin narrowly membranous, shortly ciliate, apex acute. Androgynophore 1--2 mm, glabrous. Petals slightly exserted beyond calyx, white, ca. 1.1 cm; claws narrowly oblanceolate, glabrous, auricles triangular; limbs subovate, ca. 2.5 mm, margin entire; coronal scales narrowly ovoid, ca. 1/2 as long as limbs, margin entire, rarely laciniate. Stamens and styles slightly exserted; filaments glabrous. Capsule ovoid, ca. 8 mm, shorter than calyx. Seeds orbicular-reniform, flat, ca. 2 mm in diam., abaxially grooved with undulate wings. Fl. Apr--May, fr. Jun.

Sand dunes, sandy steppes. N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Pakistan; SW Asia].