Trianthema triquetra Willd. ex Spreng.

A species of saline-soil. Can be used as a fodder for goats and cattle.

An annual herb. Roots often long and slender. Stem diffuse, prostrate, papillose. Leaves 0.4-1.2 cm long, 1.5-3.5 mm broad, elliptic-ovate to oblanceolate, leaf base sheathing, membranous. Flowers solitary or 2-3, sessile; bract c. 2 mm long, ovate, acuminate; bracteoles 2, less than 1 mm long. Calyx tube campanulate, persistent; sepals 9 mm long, ovate. Stamens 5, alternating with the sepals, filaments less than 1 mm long. Ovary c. 1.2 mm long, turbinate; style 1, persistent. Pyxidium 2 mm long, lid circular, c. 1.5 mm broad, flat, depressed in the centre; amphora 1-seeded. Seed 1.1 mm broad, rugose, black.

Distribution: Africa, Arabia, India & Pakistan.

Fl. Per. : July-November.