Horsefly's Eye

Annuals, to 50 cm tall. Roots fibrous. Stems succulent, erect, much branched from base; branches slender, longitudinally striate, glabrous. Leaves sometimes scalelike, gradually decreasing in size upward, sessile, lanceolate to subspatulate-lanceolate, to 2 cm, base amplexicaul and generally narrowly attenuate, margin entire, apex acute to obtuse; veins inconspicuous. Pedicel slender, to 1 cm. Calyx campanulate, ca. 2 mm, parted to slightly beyond middle; lobes 5, apex obtuse. Corolla white, rose, or pale purple, ca. 2 X as long as calyx; lower lip lobes spreading flat; upper lip erect, short. Stamens glabrous. Capsule globose, ca. 2 mm in diam. Seeds ovoid-oblong; seed coat reticulate.

Himalaya, India, east to China & Japan, Malaysia, Oceania, Australia.

Guangdong, Guangxi, Henan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, S Shanxi, Taiwan, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia, Oceania].

200-1200 m

Rice fields, wet places; below 1800 m.

Gratiola juncea Roxburgh, Pl. Coromandel 2: 16. 1798.

junceum: Juncus- or rush-like