Lineleaf Whitepuff

Nile and Mediterranean regions, Egyptian desert, Res Sea coastal strip and Sinai.

North and central America, Macaronesia, Africa, west Asia to northwest India.

A common desert spring annual of the plains and the foothills, found up to 1000 m. Often found in waste and saline places. Those growing near moist areas tend to be less branched and with numerous slender leaves and shorter spikes. The lobes at the bases of leaves may be stipular in nature.

The native status of the Chinese plants is perhaps doubtful; the nearest native populations are in NW India, representing a considerable disjunction.

Plants 7-35 cm tall. Stem erect to ascending, ribbed. Leaves 1-4 cm long, glabrous to scabrid, in clusters, with 1-2 minute basal lobes, c. 1 mm long. Flowers bisexual, in dense, 2-25 cm long spikes; bracts 1-1.5 mm long, linear to lanceolate, persistent. Sepals 4, subequal, 1-1.5 mm long, connate at the base. Petals 2, united more than half way up or free. Stamens 3-4, sometimes abortive; filaments united at the base, c. 1.5 mm long. Capsule erect, subglobose, c. 3 mm broad; teeth acute, c. 1 mm long, membranous. Seeds less than 1 mm long, greenish-black, glaucous.

Herbs annual, biennial, or perennial, 10-40 cm tall, glabrous. Stem erect, branched from base. Leaves alternate or fasciculate, linear, entire, 1-5 cm × 0.5-2 mm, apex obtuse or acute. Flowers sessile or nearly so, light greenish white, minute; bract lanceolate, ca. 1.8 mm. Sepals 4-parted; lobes lanceolate. Petals slightly shorter than sepals. Stamens 3; filaments connate at base. Capsule sessile or subsessile, light yellow, subglobose, ca. 2 mm diam., angled, apically 4-cleft. Seeds black or light green, shiny, numerous. Fl. and fr. Jun-Jul. 2n = 30, 32.

Distribution: SW. USA., N. Africa, Syria, Iran, India, Pakistan and West-wards to Spain and the Canary Islands.

Sichuan, Yunnan [W India, Pakistan; N Africa, SW Asia, Atlantic Islands (Canary Islands), North America (NW Mexico, SW United States)].

Fl.Per.: January-April.

Beaches of the Jinsha Jiang; ca. 2100 m.

Reseda linifolia Vahl in Hornemann, Hort. Bot. Hafn. 2: 501. 1815; Oligomeris glaucescens Cambessèdes.

Oligomeris linifolia is a species of flowering plant in the small family Resedaceae known by the common name lineleaf whitepuff. It is native to parts of the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, as well as southern Europe and North Africa, and the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It grows in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas and saline soils, in deserts, plains, coastline, and other places. It is a fleshy annual plant, producing several erect, ribbed stems 35 to 45 centimeters in maximum height.

The linear or widely lance-shaped leaves are narrow, up to 4.5 centimeters long but only a few millimeters side. The flowers occur in long, erect spikes. Each flower is a rounded, lobed, pocket-like structure with 4 curving sepals and usually two whitish petals which may be partially fused together. The fruit is a capsule a few millimeters long containing tiny shiny black seeds.