Sand spurry

Description

Herbs annual. Stems ascending, 5--15 cm tall, slender, glandular pubescent. Leaves not or rarely fasciculate, 5--20 - 0.3--0.5 mm, apex obtuse; stipules not silvery, triangular, rarely lanceolate, short. Cymes sparse, small; bracts reduced. Pedicel slender. Sepals oblong-ovate, 1.5--2.5 - ca. 1 mm, apex obtuse. Petals lilac, rarely white, oblong-elliptic, shorter than sepals. Stamens 2 or 3. Capsule ovoid, 1.5--3 mm, ca. equaling calyx, valves purple-black at maturity. Seeds dark brown to black, ovoid, ca. 0.5 mm, unwinged. Fl. May--Jul, fr. Jun--Sep. 2n = 18.Wet saline grasslands, floodlands; 900--2600 m. Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia; Europe, SW Asia].