小叶大戟 xiao ye da ji

Herbs, annual, 8-10 cm tall. Root fibrous, single, 2-3 mm thick. Stems many from base, prostrate, internodes with some branched, slightly pinkish red, blunt-tipped, adventitious roots. Leaves opposite; stipules erose, apex subtruncate; petiole conspicuous, 1-3 mm; leaf blade elliptic-ovate, 3-5 × 2-3.5 mm, base rounded or nearly so, margin entire or subentire, apex rounded. Cyathia single, axillary; involucre narrowly campanulate, 0.4-0.6 × 0.4-0.6 mm, marginal lobes 5, triangular-lanceolate, lacerate, pilose; glands 4, nearly elliptic, appendage narrow and white. Male flowers 3 or 4, near margin of cup. Female flower: pedicel exserted from involucre; ovary smooth, glabrous; styles free, caducous; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule not exserted, 3-angular-globose, 1-1.3 × 1.3-1.5 mm, smooth, glabrous; fruiting pedicel ca. 1 mm. Seeds ovoid-tetragonal, ca. 0.8 × 0.5 mm, yellow or light brown, smooth; caruncle absent. Fl. and fr. May-Oct.

Fields, yards, roads, sandy seashores of lower plains. Fujian (Fuzhou), Hong Kong, Jiangsu (Nanjing), Taiwan, Zhejiang (Jiaxing) [Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Philippines].