土大戟 tu da ji

Herbs, ephemeral, 10-15 cm tall. Root fibrous, single, ca. 10 cm × 3 mm. Stems many branched basally, slender, ascending, glabrous. Leaves opposite; stipules absent; petiole absent; leaf blade long ovate to ovate-elliptic, 2-3 × 0.8-1.2 cm, base attenuate, apex acuminate; lateral veins 3-5, pinnate. Inflorescence a terminal much-branched dichasial cyme; cyathophylls 2, oblong-lanceolate, 1-3 × 0.5-1.5 cm, base obliquely cuneate, margin cartilaginous, often denticulate, apex usually abruptly acuminate. Cyathium sessile; involucre cuplike, 1.5-2 × 1.5-2 mm, yellow-white, lobes linear, pilose; glands 4, crescent-shaped, apex 2-horned. Male flowers many, usually not exserted from involucre. Female flower: ovary pedicel 5-6 mm, exserted from cup; ovary smooth; styles free; style arms 2-lobed. Capsule globose-ovoid, 2-3 × 2-3 mm, 3-furrowed, smooth, glabrous. Seeds oblong, 6-sided, 2-2.5 × ca. 1.2 mm, ash-gray, irregularly rugose, adaxially brown striate; caruncle absent. Fl. and fr. May-Jul.

Semimobile sandy hills and fields, scrub, river plains. N Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia (Iran)].