Description: Annual herbs.
Leaves opposite in the rosette, usually with a sheathing base, becoming alternate and sessile along stems.
Inflorescence terminal, of elongated scorpioid cymes, bracteate; flowers widely spaced, pedicellate. Sepals fused at the base or in the lower half. Corolla actinomorphic, cylindrical, glabrous. Stamens included; anthers subsessile, lacking an appendage. Ovary 4-lobed; style short; stigma capitate.
Fruit of 2–4 mericarps splitting from a conical gynobase.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 100 species, mostly America. Australia: 5 species (4 species endemic, 1 species naturalised), N.S.W., Vic., S.A., W.A.
Text by Peter G. Wilson
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Sepals 5–8, becoming thickened and twisted or recurved in fruit | Plagiobothrys plurisepaleus |
| Sepals 5, not thickened, remaining erect in fruit | 2 |
| 2 | Sepals barely fused at the base; mericarps coarsely and irregularly reticulate | Plagiobothrys elachanthus |
| Sepals fused for about one-third of their length; mericarps regularly reticulate
Back to 1 | Plagiobothrys canescens |
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