A herb. The stems are slender and hang down. They are 8-45 cm long. They grow from a slender woody rootstock each year. The leaves are thin and with short leaf stalks. They are small and oval or sword shaped. There are teeth along the edge. They are about 2 cm long by 1 cm wide. The flowers are of separate sexes but in spikes on the same tree. Male spikes occur singly in the axils of leaves. There are several flowers in a dense cylinder shaped spike. The female spikes are at the ends of branches.
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