Plants c. 2 m tall. Cauline leaves 15-30 cm long; leaflets 5-11, petioluled, lanceolate, up to 15 cm long, 2.5-4 cm broad, coarsely serrate, long acuminate; ramal ones alternate, linear-Ianceolate, 2.5-8 cm long, 0.7-1.2 cm broad, ser¬rate or entire. Flowers yellow, small, subsessile. Male flowers : calyx 3-4-lobed, lobes unequal, c. 2 mm long; stamens 11-13, anthers oblong, 3-3.5 mm long, filaments very short. Female flowers: calyx obscurely 3-4-ribbed, adnate to the ovary, 3-4-lobed, lobes c. 1 mm long. Gynoecium 3-4-carpellary, inferior, unilocular, ovules many on 3-4 parietal placentae; styles 3-4, free, each divided nearly to the middle in 2 linear stigmas. Fruit 5-9 mm long, 3-4 mm broad. Seeds numerous, elliptic, c. 1 mm long, testa reticulate with a cupulate membranous strophiole.

Fl. Per: May-August.

Type: Described from Crete.

Distribution: Crete, Turkey, Transcaucasia, Lebanon, N. Iran. Afghanistan, W. Pakistan and Nepal.

Attractive bushy plants, particularly the females, cultivated for their ornamental foliage and readily propagated by seeds or cuttings. Yields a bitter tasting purgative juice; the roots contain the alkaloid Datiscine and give a yellow dye. Not very common.