Plant: annual herb; to 35 cm tall; stems simple and erect or branched and ascending, with dense to sparse short recurved hairs Leaves: ovate, 1.5-5 cm long, 0.75-2.5 cm wide, sparsely strigose and ciliate; apex acute; base rounded; margin serrate on the distal 4/5, entire below; petioles about 0.5 to as long as the blade, with pubescence like the stems Inflorescence: SPIKES of two kinds: staminate spikes axillary, 1-6 mm long on pedicels 1-3 mm long; pistillate spikes terminal (sometimes on short lateral branches and so appearing axillary), 2-5(-7) cm long, moderately compact, often appearing widest at the apex; bracts subtending pistillate flowers often purplish, 2-3 mm long in flower and 12-15 mm long in fruit, with 7-13 acute teeth of which the middle tooth is much longer than the others, hispid on the nerves, ciliate and glandular Flowers: ALLOMORPHIC FLOWERS sessile; ovary bilobed, covered with small bumps, hispid Fruit: ca. 1.5 mm long, ca. 2 mm wide, hispid toward the apex. SEEDS 1.2-1.5 mm long, gray or brown, often mottled, finely pitted Misc: Moist or shaded areas, foothills and mts; 650-2450 m (2100-8000 ft); Aug-Oct References: Kearney & Peebles; Arizona Flora. McDougall; Seed plants of Northern AZ. REFERENCES: Levin, Geoffrey A. Euphorbiaceae. Part 1. Acalypha and Cnidoscolus. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. 29(1): 18.