stem 1–3 ft. or more high, suberect, rather hard, branched near the base, grooved, glabrous; leaves 1 1/4–3 in. long, 1/2–1 in. broad, ovate or lanceolate, obtuse, spinous-apiculate, entire, glabrous above, sometimes scurfy beneath, with spines in the lower axils sometimes 3/8 in. long; main nerves numerous, slender, conspicuous below, white; petioles reaching 1 1/2 in. long, slender; flowers very numerous, sessile, in dense axillary clusters and in terminal and axillary dense or interrupted cylindric spikes; bracteoles 1 1/2 lin. long, ovate, cuspidate; sepals 1 lin. long, bristle-pointed, those of the male flowers ovate, acute, those of the female oblong-obovate; stamens 5; capsule ovoid, membranous, circumscissile about the middle; style 0; stigmas 2, reaching 3/4 lin. long, divaricate; seeds 1/2 lin. in diam., lenticular, with obtuse margins, shining, black. null
