Synonyms: Sheffieldia APNI*
Description: Perennial or annual herbs with stems erect to procumbent, glabrous, sometimes stoloniferous.
Leaves radical and/or alternate.
Inflorescence a raceme, terminal or subterminal. Calyx bell-shaped. Staminodes 5, linear, narrow-triangular, or scale-like, alternating with the stamens; filaments glabrous. Ovary half-inferior.
Capsule dehiscent at the apex by 5 ± triangular valves.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 10–16 species, cosmopolitan, especially Southern Hemisphere. Australia: 5 species, all States.
Text by G. J. Harden
Taxon concept: Sometimes placed in Theophrastaceae.
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Stems usually wrinkled or warty; cauline leaves 2–8 mm wide; floral bract more or less leaf-like, usually 5 mm or more long and situated at the base of the pedicel | Samolus repens |
| Stems more or less smooth; cauline leaves mostly 10–20 mm wide; floral bract minute, usually ± 1 mm long and situated c. midway along the pedicel | Samolus valerandi |
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