Dioecious; pet and disk none; sep 3; stamens 8-20, with short anthers; pistillate fls with 2 elongate staminodia and a bilocular, biovulate ovary; styles separate, laciniate-fringed; seeds 2, delicately carunculate; herbs with opposite, punctate, petiolate, stipulate lvs, the staminate fls in peduncled axillary spike-like infls, the pistillate in short axillary clusters. 7 or 8, Old World.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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