return to: checklist; keys; family Euphorbiaceae
Shrub with soft, weak, woody stems; stems and leaves beset with large spine-like stinging hairs (CAUTION!); leaves alternate, deeply palmately lobed, the lobes also lobed; several finger-like glands present at the petiole-blade junction; inflorescence cymose, axillary, held above the uppermost leaves; flowers unisexual (plants monoecious); pistillate flowers at the lower cyme branches opening first (protogynous), staminate flowers on subsequent and ultimate cyme branches; flowers white; ovary and immature fruit with longitudinal stripes; fruit an explosively dehiscent capsule.
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