Herbs, usually twining climbers, perennial, monoecious, hispid with stinging hairs. Leaves
alternate, simple or palmately 3-lobed or 3-partite, palmately 3 - 5-nerved at base, petiolate;
stipules prominent, early caducous. Flowers: in terminal or leaf-opposed androgynous bracteate
racemes, with many male flowers in upper portion and one or few female flowers in lower
portion; petals and disc absent. Male flowers: calyx globose or obovoid, valvately 3 - 5-partite;
stamens (1 -) 3, rarely more; filaments free or connate; anthers with contiguous parallel thecae.
Female flowers: calyx of 6 imbricate, usually pinnatifid lobes, enlarged and spreading stellately
in fruit; ovary 3-loculed; ovule one in each locule; styles united at base into a column, 3-fid, free
and spreading above. Fruits capsular, depressed, consisting of 3 bivalved cocci; endocarp
crustaceous; seeds 3, globose; testa crustaceous; endosperm fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat.
Mainly in America and Africa, a few in Asia, ca 168 species; 7 species in India.
Literature.
CHAKRABARTY, T. & N. P. BALAKRISHNAN (2006). The genera Megistostigma
Hook.f. and Tragia L. (Euphorbiaceae) in India. Rheedea 16(1): 15 – 28.
2a. Leaves rounded, obtuse, acute to cuneate at base
3
b. Leaves cordate or narrowly so at base
4
3a. Leaves 6 – 12 times longer than broad, 4 – 20 cm long, 0.4 – 2.6 cm broad, irregularly and
distantly serrulate to entire along margins, attenuate or attenuate-caudate at apex, penninerved
or very weakly trinerved at base with the basal lateral nerves extending 10 – 30 % way up the
lamina; secondary venation mostly brochidodromous; lateral nerves 7 – 15 per side above the
basal; fruiting calyx lobes very small (0.3 – 2 mm long)
b. Leaves 1.5 – 5 times longer than broad, 3.5 – 16 x 1 – 6.5 cm, serrate to serrulate or dentate to
denticulate along margins, caudate at apex, prominently trinerved at base with the basal lateral
nerves extending 30 – 80 % way up the lamina; secondary venation predominantly
semicraspedromous or often craspedromous; lateral nerves 3 – 7 per side; fruiting calyx lobes
larger (1.5 – 3 mm long)
4a. Mature branches, leaves and petioles usually glabrous to subglabrous; main body of fruiting
sepals ovate to broadly ovate with lacerate-fimbriate margins, usually enclosing the fruits
b. Mature branches, leaves and petioles usually hispid or hirsute; main body of fruiting sepals
linear or narrowly oblong or spathulate with 4 – 8 linear or narrowly oblong lobes per side,
spreading stellately in fruit
5
5a. Young shoots, upper branches and leaves densely golden yellow tomentose (mainly confined
to the Nilgiri and Pulney hills)
b. Young shoots, upper branches and leaves scattered fulvous hirsute
6
6a. Leaves 4 – 6 times longer than broad (5 – 14 x 1 – 5 cm), lanceolate to oblong- lanceolate, entire
or with 2 – 3 teeth towards base or remotely serrate or serrulate at the basal half along margins,
attenuate to attenuate-caudate at apex; lateral nerves brochidodromous
b. Leaves 2 – 3 times longer than broad, ovate, cordate-ovate, ovate-oblong, ovate-elliptic, oblong,
oblong-elliptic or deltoid-oblong, evenly serrate to serrulate or dentate to denticulate along
margins, caudate or acuminate at apex; lateral nerves craspedromous to semicraspedromous
