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A shrub; twigs glabrous; leaves short-petioled, firmly papery, ovate-lanceolate or ovate, acute, base wide-to narrow-cuneate, margin regularly and distinctly serrate, 1.5-2.25 in. long, 0.67-0.75 in. wide, glabrous above, sparingly adpressed-hirsute on the nerves beneath; petiole somewhat pubescent, 1.5 lin. long; stipules modified into conical thorns 1-1.5 lin. long; flowers racemose, rather small; male racemes few-flowered, their peduncles slender, glabrous, very short; pedicels capillary, over 0.3 in long, jointed near the base; bracts minute, each several-flowered; calyx whitish, deeply 4-lobed; lobes ovate, subacute; stamens 15-18, 8-10 outer, the rest central, accompanied by many ovate pilose inter-staminal glands and surrounded by a ring of 5 flattened extra-staminal glands; female bracts each 1-flowered; female calyx green, 3-lobed; lobes ovate, subacute, their margins ciliate; ovary glabrous, 3-celIed; styles 3, free to the base, laciniate throughout; disc-scales 3, free, triangular, thin; capsule usually 2-coccous or 1-coccous, 0.3 in. wide; seeds subspherical.
Male flowers: pedicels up to c. 1 cm long at anthesis, capillary, subglabrous; buds 1–1.5 mm in diameter, oblate, apiculate, basally truncate, glabrous; calyx lobes 3–4, 2 × 1.5 mm, ovate, obtuse or shortly acuminate, pale green; disk glands numerous, 5 of which are extrastaminal, the remainder interstaminal, flattened, rounded, ciliate; stamens 15–18, comprising 8–10 outer, and the rest central, filaments very short, anthers minute, white.
Leaf blades 2–7.5 × 1–2.5 cm, elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, acute or subacute at the apex, shallowly and indistinctly glandular-serrate on the margin, cuneate and eglandular at the base, chartaceous, sparingly pubescent along the midrib beneath, otherwise glabrous, drying greenish or brownish; lateral nerves in 3–4 pairs, looped within the margin, scarcely prominent above or beneath.
Female flowers: pedicels 2–3 mm long, jointed near the base, glabrous; calyx lobes 3, c. 1 × 1 mm, ovate, subacute, ciliate, green; disk glands 3, petaloid, c. 1 × 0.5 mm, oblong-lanceolate, rounded; ovary 1 mm in diameter, 3-lobed, sparingly pubescent to subglabrous, green; styles 3, united at the base, 1–1.5 mm long, reflexed-spreading, stigmas laciniate.
Male inflorescences 2–4 cm long with peduncles 1–1.5 cm long, interruptedly racemose, glabrous or subglabrous; bracts c. 1 mm long, triangular, persistent.
Female inflorescences 1.5–3 cm long, the peduncles c. 1.5 cm long, few-flowered, glabrous; bracts ± as in male.
Fruit 5 × 9 mm, tricoccous, or di-or monococcous by abortion, glabrescent, green at first, drying purplish.
Stipules 1–3 mm long, thorn-like, conical, straight or slightly curved, accrescent, stramineous.
Seeds 4 mm in diameter, shallowly foveolate-reticulate, aril orange.
Young growth sparingly pubescent to subglabrous.
A shrub to c. 3 m tall.
Petioles 4–7 mm long.
Twigs pale grey.
