A. RADCLIFFE-SMITH

A small dioecious shrub up to 1.5 m. Leaves opposite. Petioles 5 mm long. Leaf-blades oblanceolate-oblong, 5-11 x 1-3 cm, acuminate, narrowed to a rounded-cuneate base, serrulate, lateral nerves 13-14 pairs, shiny, olive-green above, crimson or purple beneath. Stipules ovate-lanceolate, 1 mm long. Male spikes 1-2.5 cm long; bracts 1-flowered. Male flowers: sepals 3, linear-lanceolate, ± entire; stamens 3, exserted. Female racemes less than 1 cm. long, 2-3-flowered. Female flowers: pedicels 1-2 mm long; sepals 3, ± free, ovate, 1 mm long, fimbriate; ovary 1 mm diam., smooth; styles 1.5 mm long. Fruit trilobate, 9 mm diem., impressed-truncate at the apex. Seeds subglobose.

Fl. Per.: Sept: Oct.

Holotype: Cochinchina, cult., Louretro (BM!).

Distribution: Indochina (Vietnam). Widely cultivated as a foliage-ornamental; only the female plant appears to be in cultivation.