212 Key to the System of 



999. Bracteoles fixed above the base of the calyx. 



Erect, rather tall, beset with soft spreading hairlets ; leaves 

 linear- cylindrical, scarcely pointed, their surface often 

 closed by the incurved margin ; flowers without any 

 stalklets; bracteoles narrow, keeled; calyx-lobes broadish, 

 nearly equal, hardly as long as the tube ; ovulary outside 

 beset with hairlets. P. mollis. 



Bracteoles fixed below the base of the calyx ... 1000 



1000. Surface of the leaves closed by the incurved margin. 



A small diffuse shrub, much beset with soft hairlets ; leaves 

 linear-cylindrical ; flowers on short stalklets ; bracteoles 

 fully as long as the calyx, linear-lanceolar ; calyx mem- 

 branous, scantily beset with hairlets, its lobes pointed ; 

 fruit oblique - elliptical, short -pointed, somewhat com- 

 pressed, bearing scattered hairlets. P. hibbertioides. 



Surface of the leaves open. 



A rather tall shrub, much beset with soft hairlets ; leaves 

 linear, concave, rather acute ; stipules recurved ; flowers 

 on very short stalklets ; bracteoles comparatively large, 

 almost lanceolar ; calyx beset with rather long hairlets, 

 its lobes about as long as the tube ; fruit oblique-ovate, 

 pointed. P. viscosa. 



1001. Stipules distinctly present. 



A slender imperfectly shrubby plant ; leaves comparatively 

 short, glabrous, from broadish- to elliptic- and cylindric- 

 linear, always concave, rather acute ; stipules very short ; 

 flowers quite small, in dense terminal headlets ; bracts 

 broadish, overlapping ; bracteoles about as long as the 

 calyx, inserted above its base, often bifid and with a 

 bristlet between the lobes, sometimes at the summit 

 additionally denticulated or lobulated ; calyx beset with 

 very short appressed shining hairlets ; fruit oblique- 

 ovate, pointed, somewhat compressed, invested with 

 appressed hairlets ; seeds dark -brown. P. dent at a. 



Stipules almost absent. 



A rather low imperfectly shrubby plant ; leaves small, from 

 linear- to narrow-elliptical, rather blunt, usually glabrous, 

 concave above or sometimes flat, darker green beneath, 

 without any prominent carinular venule ; stipules tri- 

 angular, very minute or obliterated ; flowers often some- 

 what fascicular-umbellate in the headlets ; bracteoles 

 inserted below the calyx ; calyx beset with soft hairlets, 

 its lobes shorter than the tube ; upper petal only 

 moderately dilated ; fruit ovate-globular, beset with 

 hairlets. P. subumbellata. 



