心叶大戟 xin ye da ji

Herbs, perennial, 10-15 cm tall. Rootstock woody, 3-5(-8) mm thick. Stems woody at base, many branched, ascending, to 3 mm thick, glabrous. Leaves opposite, overlapping on uppermost shoots; stipules interpetiolar, membranous, triangular, 1-2 mm, brown, irregularly lobed or lacerate, persistent; petiole 1-1.8 mm; leaf blade ovate, 1-1.8 × 0.6-1.3 cm, thinly leathery, base obliquely cordate, margin entire, apex acute. Cyathia clustered terminally, peduncle 1-3 mm; involucre stipelike, 1.2-1.8 × ca. 0.8 mm, smooth and glabrous, marginal lobes 5, triangular; glands 4, yellow, rounded to transversely elliptic, appendages white, wider than glands, 0.5-0.9 × 0.3-0.7 mm, margin entire. Male flowers 15-20, usually not exserted; anthers yellow. Female flower: pedicel 2-4 mm, exserted from involucre; ovary smooth, glabrous; styles free, persistent; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule exserted, nutant, subglobose, ca. 2.5 × 2.5 mm, smooth, glabrous; fruiting pedicel to 4 mm. Seeds ovoid-tetragonal, ca. 1.3 × ca. 1 mm, dark gray or light brown, smooth or shallowly transversely furrowed; caruncle absent. Fl. and fr. Aug-Nov.

Coral reefs along coastal areas. Taiwan (Lan Yu) [Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Malaysia, Philippines; Pacific islands].

This species is most easily identified by its distinctively overlapping leaves.