<unk>  – MHNT Habitus It is a perennial, herbaceous, suffrutescent, hemicryptophyte plant, which dies off in the winter, but regrows from the rootstock the following spring. It can grow to about tall, but normally it is about tall. The entire plant is hairless (glabrous). Plants are bad tasting and smell foul when crushed. Stems Numerous erect to spreading stems grow from the crown of the root-stock in the spring, these branch in a corymbose fashion. Roots The roots of the plant can reach a depth of up to , if the soil where it is growing is very dry. The roots can grow to thick. Leaves The leaves are alternate, sessile, and have bristly, long stipules at the base. The leaf blade is dissected/forked twice or more into three to five thin, linear to lanceolate-linear, greyish lobes. The forks are irregular. The lobes have smooth margins, are long and broad, and end in points.<unk>  styles. Flowers It blooms with solitary flowers opposite to the leaves on the apical parts of branches. It flowers between March and October in India, between April and October in Pakistan, between May and June in China, between March and April in Israel, and between May and July in Morocco. The flowers are white or yellowish white, and are about 2–3 cm in diameter. Greenish veins are visible in the petals. They have a threadlike, 1.2 cm long pedicel. The flowers have five (10-)12–15(−20)mm long, linear, pointy-ended, glabrous sepals, often divided into lobes, although sometimes entire and only divided at the end. There are five petals which are oblong-elliptic, obovate to oblong in shape, (10-)14–15(−20)mm long, (5-)6–8(−9)mm broad, and ending with an obtuse apex. The flowers are hermaphroditic, having both male and female organs. The flowers usually have 15 stamens (rarely fewer); these have a 4-5mm long filament with an enlarged base. The dorsifixed, 6mm long anthers are longer than the filaments. The ovary is superior, and has 3 locules and ends in an 8-10mm long style, the ending 6mm of which are triangular or 3-keeled in cross-section. The ovary is surrounded by a nectary which is glabrous and has five lobes in a regular pattern. The flowers produce only a tiny amount of nectar. The nectar is rich in hexose sugars. It contains a relatively small concentration of amino acids among which there is an especially high amount of the glutamic acid, tyrosine and proline, the last of which can be tasted by, and is favoured by, many insects. It also contains (four) alkaloids, in relatively high concentration compared to the flowers of other species, among them the toxins<unk> l and harmine. The proportions and concentrations of the alkaloids in the nectar are different than in the other organs of the plant, indicating an adaptive reason for their presence. Pollen P.<unk>  has smallish, tricolpate pollen grains with a rugulate-reticulate surface. The exine has a sexine which is thicker than the nexine. These grains are well distinguishable from pollen of related plants (Nitraria) in Pakistan.<unk>  fruit Fruit The plant fruits between July and November in China. The fruit is a dry, round seed capsule which measures about 6–10(−15) mm in diameter, These seed capsules have three chambers and carry more than 50 seeds. The end of the fruit is usually somewhat sunken inwards and retains a persistent style. Seeds Seeds The seeds are colored dark brown to blackish-brown, slightly curved, triangular, about long with a muriculate surface. The endosperm is oily. Cytology The cells have 24 chromosomes (2n), although sometimes 22 have been found.
Peganum harmala
Gnathostoma spinigerum
Arcanum joviale
Craniopagus parasiticus
Cynanchum viminale
Cynanchum acidum
Schistosoma intercalatum
Fannyhessea vaginae