Low herb to c. 50 cm high, grey-green, stellate-hairy. Leaves ovate to rhombic, mostly 2–5 cm long, 1–3 cm wide, apex obtuse, base cuneate, margins entire or toothed, with 2 raised glands at base on underside, sparsely stellate-hairy; petiole 1–7 cm long; stipules filiform, 1–2 mm long. Male flowers to c. 20, each subtended by a filiform bract 3–5 mm long; calyx and petals c. 4 mm long, calyx-teeth lanceolate; stamens usually 10 in 2 whorls, anthers linear, c. 1 mm long. Female flowers 1–4; peduncles short at first, elongating to 5–15 mm in fruit; calyx lobes narrow-triangular with filiform tips, c. 2 mm long, persistent in fruit. Capsule subglobose, 6–8 mm diam., tuberculate, more or less covered with peltate scales; seed ovoid, c. 4.5 mm long, c. 3.5 mm wide, tuberculate. Flowers summer and autumn.
MuM, Wim. Also naturalised WA, SA, NSW. Native to the Mediterranean. A weed of cultivation that has become established at a number of sites in the Horsham area.
Source:
Jeanes, J.A. (1999). Euphorbiaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 55–82. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
