Description: Root-parasitic herbs or small shrubs with slender, wiry stems.
Leaves alternate.
Inflorescences 1-flowered, axillary, peduncle united with leaf base. Flowers bisexual. Tepals 4 or 5, united at base, free portion campanulate or tubular with a tuft of hairs inside at the base of or behind the stamens. Stamens 5, inserted on tepals; filaments short. Ovary inferior; ovules 3; style ± elongated with capitate stigma.
Drupe small, dry, nut-like, usually ribbed outside, crowned by the persistent tepals.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 245 spp., Eur., Afr., Asia, Aust. & S Amer. Aust.: 1 sp. (endemic).
Text by B. Wiecek
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Thesium australe |
|
