Habit: [Annual, perennial herb] shrub; sap clear; generally monoecious.
Stem: central erect, generally much-branched; lateral spreading to ascending.
Leaf: cauline, alternate; hairs simple, sometimes glandular.
Inflorescence: spike, terminal or axillary; staminate bracts minute; pistillate bracts leaf-like, toothed.
Staminate Flower: sepals 4; stamens 4--8, filaments free or fused at base; nectary disk 0.
Pistillate Flower: sepals 3(5); nectary 0; ovary 3-chambered, styles 3, deeply cut.
Fruit: +- spheric, smooth or +- lobed.
Seed: smooth to pitted; scar appendage minute.
Species In Genus: +- 400 species: tropics, warm temperate worldwide.
Etymology: (Greek: ancient name for a kind of nettle)
Jepson eFlora Author: Mark H. Mayfield & Grady L. Webster
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
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