Rounded annual or short-lived perennial c. 30 cm high, monoecious. Leaves thin, with scaly sheen on both sides, rhomboid orbicular, contracted at base into petiole from as long as to half as long as lamina, in all 2–4 cm long; margin sinuate-dentate. Male flowers few and mixed with female in small sub-terminal clusters. Female flowers in scattered axillary clusters. Fruiting bracteoles soft and spongy, completely united, turbinate to cup-shaped with a flat top that is bordered by a continuous, horizontal, circular, entire or sinuate wing, in all 7–15 mm high and wide, sessile or rarely with a stipe up to 10 mm long. Seed with basal, horizontal radicle.
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