Description
Perennial, sometimes with woody base, (10-)15-40 cm high.
Leaves sessile, linear to linear-subulate, (0.7-)0.8-2.5(-3) cm long, c. 1 mm wide, base attenuate, apex acute, margin revolute, both sides covered by long appressed bristly hairs.
Stamens: anthers subsessile in tube.
Fruit separating into 4 nutlets, nutlets ovoid, 0.8-1 mm high, covered with very short, appressed hairs.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: New Guinea present, Australasia, Flores present
Australia; Malesia: ?Lesser Sunda Islands(Flores, a very untypical specimen, that cannot be assigned to the present species with certainty), New Guinea..
Notes
The plants from Madura under this name belong to H. madurense. The specimens from New Guinea have mostly been misidentified as H. strigosum, which does not seem to occur in the Malesian region.
The species is flowering already in the first year and can, therefore, be mistaken for annual.
