Stems long, slender, twining, armed with stinging hairs. Leaves distinctly petioled, membranous, oblong, acute, base distinctly narrow-cordate, margin closely crenate or dentate, 3–6 in. long, 1 1/4–2 1/4 in. wide, sparingly bristly setose on the nerves above, more densely setose on the nerves beneath, otherwise glabrous; petiole 3/4–1 1/2 in. long, glabrescent or glabrous; stipules linear-lanceolate, reflexed, 1/5– 1/4 in. long, very sparingly pubescent externally. Racemes lateral, slender, rather lax, 1 1/4–1 1/2 in. long, with a naked slender finely puberulous peduncle 1/2–1 in. long, with several male flowers above and 1–2 basal female flowers; pedicels in both sexes solitary to their bracts, the male pedicels up to 1/4 in. long finely puberulous and longer than the bracts; male bracts oblong-subspathulate, obtuse or subacute, 1–2 lin. long, membranous, puberulous externally; female bracts oblanceolate-oblong, acute, margin with 2–3 lateral teeth but not lobed; bracteoles ovate, acute, toothed like their bracts. Male sepals 3, wide-ovate, sparingly puberulous externally. Stamens 3; filaments short. Female calyx-segments 6, ovate-lanceolate, membranous, at length accrescent but hardly coriaceous, 5 lin. long, pinnately 7–9-lobulate on each side, lateral lobules and rhachis very densely and softly woolly with long hairs, terminal laminula narrowly ovate almost glabrous, not much larger than the male lateral lobules. Ovary densely adpressed setose; styles 3, puberulous, united throughout in a wide pyriform tube, at first as large as the ovary; the stigmas free, recurved and closely applied to the swollen style-column, at length retracted within the mouth of the columnar tube. Capsule 3-coccous, rather sparingly pilose, 1/3 in. across; cocci subglobose. Seeds globose, dark brown with grey blotches.
