Information

Annual herb, sometimes woody at the base, 0.05–1.5 m; stems reddish or green, stellate-scabrid to glabrous, succulent, often woody at base. Leaves shortly elliptic or rhombic-orbicular, sometimes wider than long, shallowly 3-lobed to 1/5 way to the base, lateral lobes sometimes slightly diverging, (2.7–)3.5–8.6 cm long, (1.6–)1.8–6.7 cm wide, base rounded to cuneate, tip shortly acuminate, margin 1(–2)-serrate(-dentate), membranous, softly hairy to subscabrid to glabrous above, stellate-softly hairy to subscabrid beneath; glands crater-like, elliptic, ± 0.75 mm long, replacing the lower 1–2 pairs of teeth on lower surface; petiole (5–)8–38 mm long, hairy; stipules narrowly triangular, 1–4 mm long, ± 1 mm wide, dark brown, hairy. Inflorescence terminal, many-branched, up to 45 cm long; basal nodes with slightly reduced leaves, becoming more linear and further reduced towards the top, internodes 1.5–4 cm long, nodes with 1–5 leaf subopposed cymes, each 1(–3)-flowered; peduncles 1–3 mm long, sometimes in lowest nodes several inserted on a short stem 1–5 mm long; bracts as stipules, 1.5–2 mm long; pedicels ± 1 mm long. Sepals elliptic-linear, 2.5–4 mm long, sparsely stellate-hairy outside, apical spine 0.5 mm long, pink in bud. Petals spathulate, the blade oblong, 3–3.5 mm long, 0.5–1 mm wide, the basal 0.5 mm of the claw sparingly hairy at the margin. Stamens 5(–6); ovary sparsely hairy. Fruits 3–6 per node, indehiscent, ovoid, 5–7.5 mm long, 4–5 mm wide, fruit body ± 4 mm long, 3 mm wide, covered in densely long brownish-white hairs, with ± 65–90 forward pointing dark brown spines, each glabrous apart from a line of glistening white hairs along their forward length and each with a translucent, forward directed recurved hair at the tip. Fig. 13/6–7.