Synaptophyllum

Prostrate to decumbent, purple or salmon-red annual herbs; stems herbaceous, branching from base. Leaves decussate, sessile, flat, roundish or oval, united at base, forming a scutelliform, amplexicaul dish, upper ones much smaller and free; epidermis smooth or with small bladder cells at margins. Flowers in dichasia, up to 15 mm in diameter. Sepals 4, unequal, 2 foliaceous, fused into a short tube. Petals free at base, white. Staminodes 0. Nectary consisting of 4 separate narrow grooves. Ovary with axile placentas; stigmas 4, subulate. Fruit a 4-locular capsule, of Mesembryanthemum type; expanding keels extend to centre of fruit; covering membranes 0; valves with large, erect, incurved wings. Seeds up to 0.6 mm long, whitish, surface smooth, crest absent. F lowering in mid-summer. D istinguishing characters: paired leaves flat, roundish, stem-clasping; size and shape differences between basal and upper leaves.