Perennial herbs; stems prostrate, rarely ascending, sometimes rooting at the nodes, 1-5 dm long, pilose, the hairs multicellular. Leaves ovate to obovate, 0.5-4.5 cm long, 0.3-2 cm wide, glabrous to sparsely appressed pilose, petioles 2-10 mm long. Flowers in sessile, sparsely pubescent spikes, bract ca. 4 mm long, tipped with a spine 2-3 mm long, bracteoles 3-4 mm long, acute; sepals unequal, the 2 abaxial ones 4-5 mm long, spine-tipped, the spine usually more than 2 mm long, other sepals not spine-tipped; stamens 5, all fertile. Utricles 1.2-1.5 mm long, enclosed by the sepals

Diuretic

PIER