Monoecious herb, to 50 (70) cm tall, essentially glabrous all over; stems straw-colored, reddish, or brown. Leaves opposite, simple; stipules minute, interpetiolar; petioles 1-2 mm long; blades variable, obovate to ovate, obtuse at apex, rounded to slightly cordate and oblique at base, 1-3 cm long, 6-10 mm wide, serrate. Flowers naked, the cyathia glabrous, the glomerules loose, short-stalked, terminal or axillary, usually noticeably leafed; disk with glands elliptic or suborbicular, their appendages white or pink; stamen 1; styles 3, bifid. Capsules oblong-ovoid, glabrous, to 1.8 mm long, 1.7-2 mm wide, sometimes broader than long; seeds ovoid, ca 1 mm long, reddish-brown, angulate. Croat 16526. Standley (1933) erroneously reported this as Euphorbia brasiliensis L.