Caudex erect, dusky, obconical, to 10 × 3 cm. Caudex leaves brown-black, scalelike. Flowering stems 1 or 2, (1-)5-60(-100) cm. Stem leaves alternate, abaxially greenish, narrowly to broadly elliptic, narrowly to broadly ovate, oblong-ovate, obovate, or suborbicular, 0.3-6(-9) × 0.4-2.2(-4.5) cm, base cordate to shortly or long attenuate, margin entire or sparsely serrate, apex rounded, obtuse, acute, or mucronate. Inflorescences terminal, corymbiform, 7-100-flowered; bracts leaflike. Flowers unisexual, male ones unequally 5-merous. Sepals purplish red, narrowly oblong, oblong-ovate, or narrowly triangular, 1-5 × 0.3-1.2 mm, apex rounded to obtuse. Petals dark purplish red, obovate or narrowly so, 2.8-4 × 1.2-1.6 mm in male flowers, 1.5-3 × 0.5-0.7 mm in female ones. Stamens 10, equaling or slightly shorter than petals. Nectar scales oblong or narrowly or transversely so, apex emarginate. Carpels of female flowers erect, broadest at base, 3-5 × as long as petals, apex recurved. Follicles 4-5(-10) mm. Seeds 10-16. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.
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A stout herb. It has a long rootstock that is 1-3 cm thick. The leaves are fleshy and narrowly oval and heart shaped at the base. The flowers are red to purple in large leafy clusters.
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