Sep basically 5, but the 2 outer each connate with an inner one, which appears as a subulate lobe above the middle; sep spreading at anthesis, later connivent and twisted and enclosing the fr; pet 5, convolute in bud, yellow, fugaceous, but often drying persistent; stamens 8-30 (8-20 in our spp.); placentas nerve-like, biovulate; style slender, ca 2 mm, with a minute stigma; seeds 1-3; embryo coiled into a closed hook; much branched shrubs or subshrubs, forming dense mats or mounds or low bushes as much as 1 m across, with small, alternate, linear or scale-like lvs and numerous fls, each solitary and axillary or terminating a short axillary branch. 2, N. Amer.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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