Bassia hyssopifolia

Erect, usually much-branched annual to c. 1 m high, branchlets cottony-hairy when young, becoming glabrous with age. Leaves sessile, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 6–20 mm long, 1–3 mm wide, flat or concave on upper surface, convex below, sparsely cottony. Flowers solitary, paired or in 3s in leaf axils; tepals c. 0.5 mm long, pilose. Tepals of fruiting perianth ± hemispherical, c. 1 mm long, each with a hooked spine c. 1.5 mm long arising from near the centre; seed elliptic, c. 1.5 mm long, remaining enclosed by fruiting perianth when shed. Flowers Jan.–Mar.