Plant: annual herb; to 70 cm tall; stems erect, branched, with short recurved hairs and stalked glands, especially toward the apex Leaves: ovate, 3-8 cm long, 1.5-5 cm wide, sparsely pilose; apex acute to short attenuate; base cordate or rounded; margin serrate; almost as long as the blade, petioles with pubescence like the stems INFLORESCENCE: SPIKES of two kinds: staminate spikes axillary, 5-35 mm long on pedicels 5-15 mm long; pistillate spikes terminal (sometimes on short lateral branches and so appearing axillary), 3-7 cm long, fairly open, especially in fruit; bracts subtending pistillate flowers 3-6 mm long, with (9-)13-17 narrow lobes about 2/3 the length of the bract, densely glandular with both sessile and stalked glands Flowers: ALLOMORPHIC FLOWERS sessile; ovary obovoid, pubescent, with two irregular flanges near the apex Fruit: capsules, ca. 2 mm long, ca. 4 mm wide, sparsely short hispid and with fleshy green glandular outgrowths especially toward the apex. SEEDS 1.6-2 mm long, brown, with low bumpy ridges Misc: Moist areas, often weedy; 1000-1650 m (3200-5500 ft); Aug-Oct REFERENCES: Levin, Geoffrey A. Euphorbiaceae. Part 1. Acalypha and Cnidoscolus. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. 29(1): 18.