Perennial shrub to 2 m high, usually single-stemmed from rootstock, each stem branched many times; deciduous. Leaves 2-3-whorled, not clustered in rosette on flowering stems; blade broadly ovate to elliptic, 12-70 mm long, 9-60 mm wide, upper surface dark red, lower surface green-grey; tip pointed to rounded; base rounded to truncate; petiole filiform, 5-50 mm long. Floral heads without rays. Cyathia 3-4 mm wide, with white-fringed lobes; glands 5, elliptic with more or less wavy edges, yellow.

Mexico, C and S America.

Source: Forster, P. (2002). Euphorbiaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.