Cithareloma lehmannii Illustration Credit: Shaukat & Azmat

Annual herbs, sparsely branched, erect to ascending, clothed with short, stellate hairs. Leaves simple, lower stalked, ovate to ovate-oblong; upper similar tolinear-oblong, subsessile or sessile; all leaves entire to shallowly sinuate-toothed, apex rounded. Racemes few flowered, lax. Flowers mediocre, whitish, lilac or orange coloured; pedicels subspreading, slightly thickened in fruit. Sepals erect, inner saccate at base. Petals c. twice as long as the sepals, obovate-oblong, long clawed, apex entire. Stamens 6; filaments not appendaged; anthers oblong, obtuse. Lateral nectar glands apparently semiannular, in pairs; middle absent. Ovary oblong on a short gynophore, 4-16-ovuled; style short with conical, bilobed stigma. Siliquae oblong, compressed, bilocular, dehiscent, apex and base ± rounded; valves pubescent with short, stellate hairs, mid-vein distinct; septum membranous, not veined; seeds orbicular, compressed, narrowly winged.

1(-3) species in Afghanistan, Pakistan and C. Asia.

Lower Taxon

• Cithareloma lehmannii Bunge