An erect to suberect branched annual 4-30 cm tall. Stems and brandies hairy, sometimes sparsely so; longer hairs stiff up to 2.2 mm long, often with swollen base; shorter ones thin and antrorsely appressed. Basal leaves deciduous, 25-60 x 4-11 mm, oblanceolate, obtuse, both surfaces hairy but not densely so, ciliate, with hairs up to 3 mm long. Inflorescence 2.5-4 cm long, up to 13 cm in fruit, bracts leafy. Calyx 5-partite, 7-11 mm long, accrescent and up to 32 mm in fruit, midrib prominent. hairs up to 3 mm long, stiff, arising from a swollen base. Corolla yellow, tube 10-12 mm long, slender; limb 3-4 mm broad, lobes obtuse. Anthers c. 1.2 mm long, attached near the throat. Style ± 8 mm long, forked, sometimes simple. Stigmas 2, compressed-rniform. Nutlets 2.8 mm long, tuberculate-rugose.

Fl. Per.: May.

Type: In deserto Syriaco, Aucher-Eloy 2368 (G, photo!).

Distribution: N. Africa, Transcaucasus, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Beluchistan (Pakistan).

According to Riedl (in Osterr Bot. Zeitschr. 109.49.1962) the subsp. desertorum Riedl from Iraq differs from subsp. linearifolia in the fruiting calyx being broader at the base (up to 10 mm). The former is also confined to Iraq. The type subspecies is characterised by the anthers which arise at the same level, forked style with 2 stigmas only and the accrescent calyx prominently nerved.