12. Bassia All. in Misc. Taur. 3: 177. t. 4. 1766; (non L. 1771) Ball. in Tutin et al., Fl. Europ. 1: 98. 1964; Allen in Davis, Fl. Turk. 2: 315. 1966; Hedge in Rech. f., Fl. Iran. 172: 99. 1997.
Willemetia Marklin in Schrad., Jour. Bot. 1: 329. 1801, non Willemetia Cothenius 1790; Echinopsilon Moq. in Ann. Sc. Nat. Bot. Ser. 2.2: 127. 1834; Londesia Fisch. & C.A.Mey., Ind. Sem. Horti Petrop. 2: 40. 1835; Kom., Fl. URSS 6: 124. 1936 (p.p); Tsien & Ma in Kung & Tsien, Fl. Reip. Pop. Sin. 25. (2): 111. 1979 (p.p).
Small annual or perennial herbs with an indumentum of long, adpressed or spreading hairs, sometimes forming fleecy balls in axils of leaves or flowers; hairs mostly barbellate. Leaves well-developed, alternate, linear, flat-semi-terete, sessile-subsessile, entire. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, (pistillate), ebracteate, sometimes hidden in thick balls of hairs, solitary or several in upper leaf axils, spikes or panicles. Perianth 5-lobed, sometimes scarious, pubescent-long hairy, persistent, enlarging as a spine, protuberance or a tubercle. Stamens (3-) 5, exserted; thecae broad oblong, without appendages. Ovary broad ovoid. Style with 2-3 papillose apical arms. Fruit rounded, horizontal or sometimes vertical, apparent or hidden in dense ball of hairs. Embryo horse-shoe-shaped.
A small genus with 10-12 species, distributed in the Saharo-Sindian region and Central Asia. Often separate into Londesia Fisch. & C.A.Mey. (Iljin in Komarov, l.c. 124. 1936; Tsien Cho-po & Ma Cheng-gung, l.c.) and Echinopsilon Moq. (Iljin in Komarov, l.c. 96). The genus Bassia All. as adopted by Hedge (l.c.) and here, has a close relationship with Kochia Roth, in which a winged fruiting perianth is present.
