Stenanthemum

Shrubs, not spinescent; branchlets pubescent with stellate and/or simple hairs. Leaves alternate, petiolate to subsessile; stipules persistent or deciduous, united (in Victoria) against stem above the petiole. Inflorescence head-like, often subtended by specialized floral leaves. Flowers sessile or subsessile, bisexual, subtended by a pair of brown papery bracts; hypanthium extending (sometimes shortly) beyond ovary; sepals 5, shorter than to subequal to hypanthium; petals 5, attached at or near summit of hypanthium, more or less hooding stamens; disc lining hypanthium around ovary summit, glabrous; ovary inferior, summit pubescent, carpels 3, style entire (in Victoria). Fruit a schizocarp, often persisting until the following year, contained within or splitting the base of the perianth; mericarps dehiscent by a longitudinal ventral (and sometimes upper-dorsal) slit; seeds mottled, with a short, basal, 3-lobed aril.