Apparently native to Australia and South Africa.In the Hawaiian Islands,
naturalized on
French Frigate Shoals, Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i.
Habit
Annual herbs; stems ascending, 2-5(-7) dm long, usually branched.
Leaves
Leaves variable, usually elliptic to rhombic or obovate, sometimes narrowly oblanceolate, (0.6-)1.5-3.5(-5) cm long, 0.3-1(-1.8) cm wide, glabrous to sparsely mealy pubescent, occasionally densely so, margins coarsely toothed or sometimes subentire, petioles 0-0.5(-1.5) cm long.
Flowers
Flowers unisexual (and the plants monoecious), in axillary clusters. Fruiting bracts somewhat compressed, connate ca. 2/3 their length, rhombic, 2-3.5 mm long, hardened from the stipe-like base up to the deltate apex and yellowish green, pale brown with age, apex with a large deltate tooth, usually also with a few smaller lateral teeth.
