Five-horn smotherweed

Bassia hyssopifolia

This species is an annual herb with simple or branching stems usually growing up to a metre tall, or sometimes taller. The leaf blades are flat and linear to lance-shaped. The lowest leaves are up to 6 centimetres long. The inflorescence is a short, narrow spike occupying the upper stem. It is lined with woolly-haired flowers growing solitary, paired, or in clusters of three. The small flower has five segments, each of which has a hooked spine at maturity. The fruit is less than 2 millimetres long. The hooked spines of the flower persist on the dry fruit.