沙戟 sha ji

Herbs, annual, 10-30 cm tall, grayish stellate-tomentose. Stipules subulate, ca. 1.5 mm, deciduous; petiole 3-9 cm; leaf blade broadly ovate, 2-6 × 1.5-5 cm, papery, abaxially stellate-tomentose, adaxially pilose, base obtuse, glandless, margin repand, apex acute. Inflorescence 1-1.5 cm, with 10-12 male flowers and 5 or 6 female flowers; bracts subulate, 2-3 mm. Male flowers: pedicels ca. 2 mm; calyx ellipsoid in bud; sepals lanceolate, ca. 3 × 0.7 mm, pubescent; petals lanceolate, ca. 3.5 × 0.5 mm, yellow, pilose; glands 5; stamens 5; filaments ca. 2 mm, half connate; anthers 1.2-1.4 mm. Female flowers: pedicels 6-7 mm; sepals lanceolate, 2-3 × ca. 0.5 mm, pubescent; petals narrowly lanceolate, 1.5-2.5 mm; glands 5; ovary globose, tomentose; style ca. 1 mm, 2-lobed. Fruiting pedicels 1.3-4 cm; capsule subglobose, ca. 7 mm in diam., stellate-pubescent, tuberculate. Seeds ovoid, ca. 4 mm, smooth. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug.

Sand dunes, sandy riverbanks; 500-600 m. N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan].