| Description : |
A suberect, 15-50 cm undershrub with almost glabrous, 4-angled branchlets from a woody rootstock. Leaves sessile, linear or linear-lanceolate, 2.5-5 cm x 2.5-5 mm almost glabrous, 3-nerved from the tapering base, acute. Flowers yellow, in axillary or basal radical clusters of 1-3, silky-pubescent, globose spikes; bracts variable, silky hairy, outermost ovate, 1.2-3 cm long, 3-nerved, sharply spine tipped, inner bracts membranous, smaller in size, spine-tipped; bracteoles ovate to obovate, c. 10-12 mm long silky-pubescent on both sides, spinescent. Calyx 5-lobed, lobes unequal, thick, silky-hairy on both sides, spinous tipped, outer wider and longer than the others. Corolla c. 12 mm long, tube abruptly truncately expanded, throat hairy, limb pubescent outside, upper lip entire or emarginate, lower lip deeply 3-lobed, lobes obtuse, ovary glabrous, 2-ovuled, style hairy. Capsule ovoid-lanceolate, c. 6 mm long, 2-seeded. Seeds oblong-ovoid, with long hygroscopic hairs. Fl. Per.: January-April. |