Botanical name: Polycarpaea spicata    Family: Caryophyllaceae (Carnation family)
Synonyms: Polycarpon spicatum, Polycarpaea staticiformis

Spiked Rock-Grass is an annual herb, with woody tap root, growing in desert-like rgions. Stems are 5-10 cm, erect to rising up, slender, many, arising from the base, purplish-brown, hairless. Leaves are 5-15 x 3-5 somewhat thick, obovate to spoon-shaped, basal leaves forming a rosette, stem apparently whorled at the nodes, at the point of branching. Stipules are lanceshaped, lacerate, tapering. Flowers are stalkless in dense, at branch-end spikes with long flower-cluster-stalks. Sepals are 2.5-3 mm, lanceshaped, with a brown midrib at the back. Petals are small, oblong. Capsule are included, about half the length of the sepals. Seeds are small, subtrigonous, shining. Shining. Spiked Rock-Grass Egypt to Kenya and Arabian Peninsula, S. Iran to Indian Subcontinent. Flowering: November-December.

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The flower labeled Spiked Rock-Grass is ...