Passerina (plant) large enough to cover them. This gives the plants a characteristic plaited or corded appearance. The flowers of some species are borne in terminal spikes, whereas other species bear them in a four-flowered head. Bracts, usually broader than leaves and larger than the flowers, subtend each flower. This is one helpful distinction between specimens of "Passerina" and plants in the genus "Struthiola". The calyx has four sepals, forming a flask-shaped or subcylindrical tube. At the mouth the sepals spread into lobes that are shorter than the tube. There are no petals, but the lobes of the sepals are quite colourfully
Cliffortia have arisen at four independent occasions. Trimerous flowers have three sepals of variable size, and in male flowers six to many stamens. Tetramerous flowers have four sepals of 5 mm long at most and either four or eight stamens. In female flowers the sepals are united at their base to form a calyx tube, and have one or two styles, that are finely divided like an ostridge feather. One or two achenes may develop in each flower, within the inflating calyx. The first who mentioned species that are currently assigned to "Cliffortia" was Leonard Plukenet in 1696. Names published before