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Herb or shrubs [trees], annual or perennial, unarmed, monoecious or dioecious; hairs unbranched [stellate], sometimes glandular, or absent; latex absent. Leaves persistent or drought-deciduous, alternate, simple; stipules present, persistent or deciduous; petiole present, glands absent or present at apex, adaxial, inconspicuous [conspicuous]; blade unlobed, margins deeply serrate or crenate to subentire, laminar glands absent; venation palmate at base, pinnate distally [pinnate]. Inflorescences unisexual or bisexual (pistillate flowers proximal, staminate distal [staminate proximal, pistillate distal]), axillary or terminal, spikelike [paniclelike] thyrses; allomorphic pistillate flowers sometimes present; bracts subtending pistillate flowers enlarging in fruit [remaining minute]; glands subtending bracts 0. Pedicels: staminate present, pistillate absent [present], allomorphic present or absent. Staminate flowers: sepals 4, not petaloid, 1–2[–3] mm, valvate, distinct [connate]; petals 0; nectary absent; stamens 4–8, distinct; anthers elongated and twisted at maturity; pistillode absent. Pistillate flowers: sepals 3 [or 5], distinct [connate]; petals 0; nectary absent; pistil (1–)3-carpellate; styles (1–)3, distinct or connate basally, usually multifid or laciniate, rarely 2-fid or unbranched, branches threadlike. Fruits capsules, allomorphic fruits achenes or schizocarps. Seeds ellipsoid to subglobose; caruncle present, sometimes rudimentary. x = 10.
Herbs, shrubs or small trees, monoecious or dioecious, annual or perennial; stems and foliage without latex. Indumentum of simple, rarely stellate, multicellular trichomes; glandular trichomes usually absent; stinging trichomes absent. Stipules entire, inconspicuous, deciduous. Leaves alternate, petiolate, elobate, palmi-or penninerved, entire or denticulate to serrate, with embedded refringent glands. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, racemose, spicate or paniculate, solitary or paired, uni-or bisexual and androgynous with the flowers in bracteate glomerules. Male flowers pedicellate; calyx lobes 4, valvate, partially connate; petals absent; disc absent; stamens 8–16 (8 or 12 in Australia), filaments free and attached to a slightly raised receptacle; anthers basifixed, bilobate, with oblong to linear thecae, longitudinally dehiscent; pistillodes absent. Female flowers usually ± sessile; calyx lobes 3–5, imbricate; petals absent; disc absent; ovary 2-or 3-locular, locules uniovulate; styles free or variously connate, usually laciniate, rarely entire or bilobed. Fruit capsular, trilobate, dehiscing septicidally into 3 bivalved cocci. Seeds ellipsoid or subglobose; testa crustaceous; albumen fleshy; caruncles entire, non-arilloid, or ecarunculate; cotyledons broad, flat.
Herbs, shrubs, or rarely trees; monoecious or dioecious; indumentum of simple hairs or glands. Leaves alternate, petiolate, stipulate; blades pinnately or palmately veined, undivided, entire or dentate. Inflorescences spicate, terminal or axillary; spikes unisexual or bisexual; c flowers several at each node, subtended by a minute bract; 9 flowers 1-3 at each node, subtended by a usually large foliaceous, lobed bract; the flowers apetalous, disc absent. Stamiinate flowers subsessile; calyx parted into 4 valvate segments; stamens 4-8, the filaments free or basally connate, the anther-sacs pendent, unilocular, elongated and vermiform; pollen grains oblate-spheroidal, 3-5 pseudoporate, tectate, psilate; pistillode absent. Pistillate flowers subsessile (pedicellate in a few species); calyx-lobes 3-5, imbricate; ovary of 3 (rarely 1 or 2) carpels, the ovules solitary in each cell, the styles free or basally connate, several times divided into filiform segments (rarely bifid or entire). Fruits capsular, sometimes surrounded by the accrescent 9 bract; seeds ovoid, usually carunculate, smooth to pitted or tuberculate, endosperm present, the embryo straight.
Herbs, shrubs or trees, mostly monoecious, sometimes dioecious; indumentum of simple or sometimes gland-tipped hairs. Leaves alternate; stipules lanceolate or subulate, sometimes minute, deciduous; leaf blade simple, margins crenate or dentate, rarely subentire; venation pinnate or palmate. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, mostly unbranched, bisexual or unisexual, sexes very diversely arranged, mostly bisexual with male flowers in fascicles distally along slender axis, base with 1 to few female flowers, mostly enclosed within prominent leafy bracts. Male flowers sessile; sepals 4, valvate, membranous; petals absent; disk absent; stamens often 8; filaments free; anthers 2-locular, anther-thecae pendulous and vermiform; pistillode absent. Female flowers 1-3 per bract, often sessile; bracts often dentate or lobed, accrescent in fruit; sepals 3-5, shortly connate, imbricate; ovary (2 or)3-locular; styles mostly free, laciniate. Fruit a capsule 2-or 3-lobed, small. Seeds subglobose or ovoid, smooth; caruncle and aril absent.
Monoecious; pet and disk none; staminate fls with 4 valvate sep and 4–8 stamens, the filaments slender, the anthers elongate and often curved or coiled; pistillate fls with 3(–5) sep; styles slender, elongate, irregularly branched or lacerate into filiform segments; capsule (1–)3-locular; seeds with a caruncle; herbs, shrubs, or trees with alternate, petiolate, stipulate, usually serrate lvs and minute fls in axillary or terminal, often conspicuous, racemiform condensed cymose infls, each fl or fascicle of fls subtended by a bract; our spp. annual herbs blooming from July to Oct., with staminate fls only 0.5 mm wide and aggregated into axillary heads or short spikes, the pistillate fls with initially small but rapidly accrescent bracts that equal or exceed the mature pubescent frs. 400, mostly New World.
As a rule, allomorphic female flowers consist of long-pedicellate or subsessile, ebracteate, 5-sepalous structures, each having only one unilocular ovary, the axis of which is turned through almost 180°, so that the single style is sub-basal, sometimes protruding between 2 of the sepals. Each flower thus produces only one single-seeded mericarp, which may or may not be provided with a dehiscence suture – see Radcliffe-Smith in Kew Bull. 28, 3: 525–529 (1974).
Allomorphic female flowers terminal, median or basal in the inflorescences of some species, ebracteate [as a rule, allomorphic female flowers consist of long-pedicellate or subsessile, ebracteate, 5-sepalous structures, each having only one unilocular ovary, the axis of which is turned through almost 180°, so that the single style is sub-basal, sometimes protruding between 2 of the sepals.
Male flowers small, shortly pedicellate, glomerulate, usually subtended by inconspicuous bracts. Female flowers sessile or shortly pedicellate, solitary or 3–5 together, subtended by conspicuous accrescent foliaceous or inconspicuous bracts. Allomorphic female flowers terminal, median or basal in the inflorescences of some species, ebracteate .
Male flowers: calyx closed in bud, later splitting into 4 valvate lobes; petals absent; disk absent; stamens usually 8 on a slightly raised receptacle, filaments free, broad, anther cells distinct, spreading or pendulous, oblong or linear, later becoming flexuous-vermiform; pistillode absent.
Female flowers: calyx lobes 3–4(5), imbricate, small; petals absent; disk absent; ovary 2–3-locular, with 1 ovule per loculus; styles free or connate, usually laciniate, reddish and rather showy, rarely entire or bilobed.
Monoecious, or occasionally dioecious, procumbent or erect, annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, often superficially resembling certain Urticaceae.
Leaves alternate, petiolate or subsessile, stipulate, sometimes stipellate, simple, crenate or serrate, palmi-or penninerved.
Fruits 3-lobed, small, soon dehiscing septicidally into 3 bivalved cocci. Fruits of the allomorphic flowers 1(2)-lobed.
Seeds ellipsoid or subglobose, small, carunculate or not; testa crustaceous; albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat.
Inflorescences terminal, axillary or both, unisexual or bisexual, spicate, racemose or paniculate.
Indumentum simple (Old World) or stellate (New World), often glandular.
