Flora of North America species comparison

mainly 0.5–4(–5) dm;

stems usually branched from base, terete, stout, angled;

herbage scurfy.

alternate or proximalmost subopposite, short petiolate or distal ones sessile;

petiole 2–5 mm;

blade cordate-ovate or subreniform to ovate to deltoid-ovate or oval, mainly 6–40 × 4–30 mm, base truncate to subcordate or broadly cuneate, margin entire or in some subhastately lobed or sometimes undulate-dentate, apex acute to rounded.

opposite or subopposite at least proximally;

petiole (0–)1–3(–4) cm;

blade triangular-hastate, lobes spreading, 20–100 mm and almost as wide, base truncate or subcordate, margin entire, serrate, dentate, or irregularly toothed, apex acute to obtuse.

in spiciform naked spikes 2–9 cm, sometimes forming terminal panicles;

glomerules tight, contiguous or irregularly spaced.

usually in fascicles of 1–3 in proximal axils.

brownish to whitish, 1.5–2.3 mm.

dimorphic: brown, flattened, disc-shaped, 1–2.5 mm wide, or black, 1–1.5 mm wide;

radicle subbasal, obliquely antrorse to spreading.

glomerules in distal axils or in short, naked, terminal (early deciduous) panicles;

flowers with 5-parted calyx.

bracteoles monomorphic or dimorphic, larger ones on stipes (2–)4–8(–15) mm, others sessile, united at base, round-triangular or suborbicular, 4–6 mm, irregularly and coarsely dentate and with ± densely beset with flat, cristate, or hornlike appendages, smaller bracteoles (lacking or rare in var. asterocarpa) in same axils, oblong to cuneate, 3–4 mm, apex truncate, dentate only at summit, faces smooth.

bracteoles green, becoming brown to black at maturity, triangular-hastate to triangular-ovate, veined or veins obscure, 3–5 mm, thin to thickened, spongy, base truncate to obtuse, margin united at base, lateral angles mostly entire, apex acute, faces smooth or with 2 tubercles.

= 18.

= 18.