Hypecoum procumbens auct. non Linn.
Annual, procumbent to erect, subglabrous to glabrous, 5-30 cm long. Leaves radical, 2-3-pinnatisect, 3-10 cm long, with somewhat sheathing leaf base; ultimate segments linear to setaceous, 2-6 mm long, 1-1.5 mm broad. Inflorescence (1-) 2-4 flowered, in axillary or terminal cyme, on 1-4 cm long peduncle. Flowers 8-12 mm across, yellow; pedicel 5-12 mm long; involucral bracts linear, 5-8 mm long. Sepals ovate, subobtuse to acute, 2-2.5 mm long, 1.5-2 mm broad, entire or ± shallowly incised at the margin. Outer petal rhomboid, elliptic or subtrilobed to trilobed, 8-12 mm long, 5-7 mm broad; inner 2 petals deeply 3 lobed, 6-8 mm long, 2-3 mm broad, middle lobe fimbriate at the margin, spathulate, outer lobes elliptic-oblong. Stamens opposite the petals, 5-6 mm long; anthers linear to oblong, with or without a gland on either sides at the base of the filament. Ovary cylindrical, 6 mm long, brownish; stigmas 2, recurved, somewhat yellow. Fruit linear or linear oblong, deflexed, 3-7 cm long, 3-5 mm broad, indehiscent to pseudo-dehiscent, lomentoid. Seeds small, brownish, planoconvex to reniform, c. 2 mm long, 1.5 mm broad.
It differs from Hypecoum procumbens L. by its terete and cylindrical fruit (not compressed). The outer petal variation seems to be overlapping in our species and cannot be considered as a reliable taxonomic character.
There seems to be a continuous variation in outer petal shape from rhomboid to sub-rhomboid (or sub trilobed) condition in our plants and this inference has been drawn after examining a number of specimens, none of which showed a true petal shape of “Sp. trilobum” (as shown in Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfan. ed. 2, 17b. 69, Fig. 26, J., 1936)-which has a narrow triangulate-terminal lobe and broad almost truncate side lobes. This variety (or species) does not occur in our area, and plants included wider this variety from our area, by previous authors, are just variants of the type race pendulum. Intermediates between var. pendulum and var. parviflarum are very frequent, especially in fruit characters; therefore, Hypecoum parviflorum does not deserve more than a varietal rank.
