Sauropus stipitatus Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 333. 1887; Chakrab. & M.Gangop. in J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 20: 542, f. 10 F - K. 1996. S. androgynus sensu Gamble, Fl. Madras 7: 1303. 1925 (repr. ed. 2: 911. 1957), p. p., non (L.) Merr., 1903.

Shrubs, 1 - 1.5 m high, entirely glabrous; branches terete; leaf-bearing branchlets 15 - 35 cm long, terete. Leaves oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate or sometimes ovate-lanceolate, acute, obtuse to rounded or often unequal at base, caudate or acuminate at apex, 4 - 11 x 1.5 - 3 cm, membranous to thinly chartaceous; lateral nerves 5 - 9 pairs; petioles 1.5 – 3 mm long; stipules triangular-acuminate, 2 – 3 mm long. Male flowers: pedicels 4 - 7 mm long; calyx subglobose, 1.5 - 3 x 2.5 - 3 mm, stiff; lobes inconspicuous, rounded; staminal column ca 1 mm long; anthers ca 0.5 mm long, horizontal. Female flowers: pedicels 5 - 8 mm long; calyx segments linear-lanceolate, oblanceolate to spathulate, 2 - 4 x 0.6 - 1.5 mm, sometimes sinuate along margins; ovary globose, ca 1.5 mm in diam.; styles ca 0.5 mm long, bifid at apex. Fruits subglobose, ca 6 x 10 - 12 mm, scarcely lobed, thin-walled, splitting into 6 segments forming a star-shaped structure of 2.5 - 3 cm in diam.; stipe ca 2 mm long; pedicels 8 - 12 mm long.

Fl. & Fr. May - Dec. (Jan. - Feb. in Tamil Nadu).

Distrib. India: Reported to occur up to about 800 m altitude in NE. India, 2100 m in the Himalayas and at about 1200 m in South India. West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram and Tamil Nadu.

Bhutan and SW. China (Yunnan).