Corispermum tibeticum - Tibetan Bugseed

Tibetan Bugseed is an annual herb 5-20 cm tall. Stem branching mostly from base; lower branches rising up or prostrate, upper ones obliquely spreading. Leaves are linear, 2-3.5 cm, 1-veined, base narrowed, tip pointed, with a short sharp point. Flowers are borne in spike-like elongated inflorescence, cylindrical, loose, 2-7 cm. Tepal is 1, nearly round, tip irregularly finely toothed. Stamens are 1-5. Bracts are narrowly ovate, sometimes slightly sickle-shaped, narrower than or as wide as the fruit, margin narrowly membranous. Fruit is dry with a single seed and a thin papery covering, broadly elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 3-4 x 2-2.5 mm, hairless, base almost heart-shaped or rounded, tip pointed or rounded; wing light yellow, 1/6-1/3 as wide as body, margin irregularly finely toothed; beak about 1 mm, tip about 1/3 as long as beak. Tibetan Bugseed is found in sandy places, riversides, at high elevations, in Qinghai, Tadzhikistan, Tibet and West Himalaya. Flowering: July-September.