Western Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Bassia hyssopifolia (Pallas) Kuntze
- Family: Goosefoot (Chenopodiaceae)
- Flowering: July-September
- Field Marks: This annual herb with inconspicuous flowers differs from all other members of the family by having a short, hooked spine at or near the tip of each sepal.
- Habitat: Alkaline flats.
- Habit: Annual herb with fibrous roots.
- Stems: Usually upright, much branched, up to 8 inches tall, smooth or hairy.
- Leaves: Alternate, simple, linear to linear-lanceolate, up to 1 3/4 inches long, pointed at the tip, tapering to the base, hairy, without teeth.
- Flowers: Several crowded into terminal or axillary spikes.
- Sepals: 5, green, united below, hairy, each lobe about 1/16 inch long, with a short, hooked spine at or near the tip.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 5.
- Pistils: Ovary superior; stigmas 2.
- Fruits: Flattened, brown to black, up to 1/12 inch across, enclosed by the enlarged, hairy sepals.
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