| General Information |
| Distribution | Native to Brazil and Peru, uncommonly cultivated.In the Hawaiian Islands,
naturalized on
Kaua`i, O`ahu, Maui, Hawai`i.
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Habit
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Monoecious, fibrous-rooted, short-lived perennial herbs 3-6 dm tall; stems green or red-tinged, erect, branched, covered with long flexuous hairs, especially when younger.
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Leaves
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Leaves widely spaced, membranous, blades oblique to petioles, reniform-ovate, (2-)3-11 cm long, (1-)2-4 cm wide, upper surface sparsely hirtellous, lower surface sparsely hirtellous only along the principal veins, margins irregularly shallowly toothed and ciliate, petioles usually reddish, 1.5-7 cm long, stipules lanceolate-oblong, 0.7-1.1 cm long, conspicuously long-ciliate, somewhat persistent.
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Flowers
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Flowers few, pendent, in branched cymes, bracts deciduous, similar to stipules; staminate perianth parts 2 or 4, outer ones broadly suborbicular, ca. 4-7 mm long, inner ones, when present, narrowly elliptic, ca. 2-3.5 mm long, stamens 10-15, nearly distinct; female perianth parts 5, similar to male but smaller.
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Fruit
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Capsules ellipsoid, 0.6-0.8 cm long, winged, the larger wing ca. 8-12 mm wide.
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Chromosomes
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2n = 34, 36
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