a leafless and spineless succulent bush, probably 2 ft. or more high, compactly much-branched above, unisexual; main stems or branches 1 1/4–1 1/2 lin. thick (dried); lateral branches more slender, opposite, diverging from each other at the base at an angle of 45°–50°, then erect, elongated and by forking into cymes or with opposite pairs of cymes racemosely scattered along them forming a panicle 1 ft. long and 3–4 in. broad, glabrous; leaves rudimentary, scale-like, opposite, 2/3– 3/4 lin. long, deltoid-ovate, often angular on each side at the base, and there contracted into an exceedingly short petiole or subsessile, obtuse, apiculate; stipular glands none; cymes usually twice forked, each fork or branchlet bearing 1 involucre; bracts under the involucre sessile, broadly ovate or oblong, obtuse, apiculate; involucre sessile, 1–1 1/4 lin. in diam., cup-shaped, glabrous outside, with 5 glands and 5 oblong or subquadrate minutely toothed and ciliate lobes; glands 1/2– 2/3 lin. in their greater diam., transversely oblong, entire, very slightly concave; ovary and capsule not seen. null
