[Euphorbia hirta L.; E. pilulifera sensu many American authors, non L.]
(nat) Hairy or garden spurge, koko kahiki
Decumbent annual herbs; stems 0.02-0.6 m long, tomentose with short, curly hairs interspersed with longer, spreading, yellow hairs. Leaves green, sometimes tinged red, often with red spots, membranous, ovate to rhombic-ovate or lanceolate, 5-50 mm long, 3-18 mm wide, appressed pilose, margins serrate, apex acute, base acute, rounded, or subcordate, petioles 1-2 mm long, stipules linear-lanceolate, 1-2 mm long, ciliate. Cyathia in congested, lateral, short- pedunculate, few-flowered cymes; involucre 0.5-0.8 mm high, densely strigose to glabrate, glands 5, orbicular, 0.1-0.3 mm long, appendages white, glabrous, margins entire, often absent; staminate flowers 2-8 per cyathium. Capsules broadly ovoid, 3- angled, 0.8-1 mm long, 1-1.2 mm in diameter, strigose. Seeds pale brown, ovoid, falcate, 4-angled, 0.5-0.7 mm long, the faces wrinkled. [2n = 12, 16, 18, 20.] Native from southern United States to Argentina, the West Indies, and the Paleotropics; in Hawai‘i naturalized and common in low elevation, dry, disturbed habitats on Kure Atoll, Midway Atoll, French Frigate Shoals, and all of the main islands. First collected on 0‘ahu in 1826-1827 (Lay & Collie s.n., K).