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Shrubs monoecious, green, 30-50 cm tall. Branches opposite and decussate or dichotomous, terete; internodes 1.5-3 cm, nodes ± swollen. Leaves opposite; petiole 2-4 mm; leaf blade ovate, obovate to elliptic, sometimes asymmetric, 3-8.5 × 1.5-3.5 cm, leathery, 3-5-veined, base attenuate or narrowly cuneate, apex obtuse. Inflorescences axillary, cymes solitary or some fascicled; peduncle 1-1.5 mm; 3-flowered, central flower female, lateral flowers male and usually absent; involucre navicular, ca. 2 mm. Pedicel absent. Male flowers ovoid in bud, ca. 1.5 mm; perianth lobes 4. Female flower ellipsoid in bud, 2.5-3 mm; perianth lobes 4, triangular, ca. 1 mm. Stigma nipple-shaped. Berry with base narrowed into a ca. 1 mm stalk, body yellowish, subglobose, 4-6 mm in diam., tuberculate, becoming smooth. Fl. and fr. Jan-Dec.
Erect, divaricate plant to 70 cm diam. Internodes ±terete. Leaf lamina elliptic, rounded or obtuse at apex, usually 3-4.5 cm long and 1.5-2 cm wide, attenuate into obscure petiole 2-5 mm long. Inflorescences arising successively in leaf axils, each a pedunculate 3-flowered cyme, the central flower female, lateral flowers male; peduncle 1-5 mm long; bracts c. 1 mm long, obtusely acute, spreading. Male flower disc-shaped, 1.5 mm diam., often formed much later than female. Female flower cylindrical; ovary 1.5 mm long; tepals c. 1 mm long. Fruit more or less globular, 6 mm diam., on a stipe 2 mm long, warty but warts disappearing at maturity and fruit becoming somewhat translucent.
