Citation: R. Anderson, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. W. 51:382 (1926).

Derivation: Greek malakos, soft; keras, horn.

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: None

Description:
Annual or perennial herbs or small shrubs with woolly branches; leaves alternate, linear or subterete.

Flowers axillary, solitary or paired, bisexual; perianth small, globose, woolly, 5-lobed; stamens 5; stigmas 2 or 3.

Fruiting perianth depressed, not woody, with 3-5 processes arising from the segments forming a Y, inverted Y or star-shaped configuration; processes flattened or subcylindrical, woolly, attached along the length of the perianth tube; radicular (opposite the radicle) slit prominent; pericarp membranous; seed horizontal; radicle centrifugal; perisperm abundant, central.

Distribution:  An Australian endemic genus of 4 species found in arid areas of southern Australia.

Biology: No text

Taxonomic notes: This account of the genus is taken from the revision by R. J. Chinnock (1980) J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 2:139-149.

Key to Species:

1. Flowers paired in the leaf axils
2. Processes subterete, over 2 mm long	M. albolanata 1.
2. Processes narrow-triangular, flattened, c. 1.5 mm long	M. biflora 2.
1. Flowers solitary in the leaf axils
3. Stems weak; leaves appressed; 3 major processes forming an inverted Y configuration	M. gracilis 3.
3. Stems robust; leaves spreading; 3 (rarely 4) processes forming a Y configuration	M. tricornis 4.

Author: Not yet available