Euphorbia hirta

Euphorbia hirta L., Sp. Pl. 1: 454. 1753; Smith, Kew Bull. 26: 264. 1972; Nair, Fl. Bashahr Himal. 254. 1977; Sharma & Kachroo, Fl. Jammu (Illustr.) 2: t. 251.1983; Dhaliwal & Sharma, Fl. Kullu Dist. 582. 1999; Singh & Sharma, Fl. Chamba Dist. 628. 2006; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 11: 293; Fl. North Amer. @ eFloras. org vol. 12; Radcliffe- Smith, Fl. Pak @ eFloras.org p. 95.

Annual or perennial herb, with milky latex. Stem erect or ascending, rarely prostrate, up to 60 cm tall, branched from middle or above, hispid, with a mixture of long yellow-brown multicellular hairs and much shorter white hairs. Leaves opposite, hispid or appressed hairy; petioles 1-3 mm long; leaf blade rhombic-ovate to rhombic-lanceolate, 1-4.4 cm x 0.5-2 cm, apex subacute or obtuse, base strongly asymmetric, one side rounded to truncate, the other cuneate to attenuate, margin entire or few serrulate below middle, finely serrulate above middle, adaxially green to red or copper-coloured, sometimes with purple blotch along midvein, abaxially, 3-5-veined from base. Stipules subulate, 1-2 mm long. Cyathia in dense, often head-like pedunculate cymes in axils of upper nodes or terminally, peduncle 3-10 mm long; all parts densely hairy. Involucre campanulate, ca. 1 mm x 1 mm, pilose, marginal lobes 5, triangular-ovate; glands 4, greenish to red, rounded to transversely elliptic, centre slightly sunken, 0.1-0.2 mm x 0.1-0.2 mm, appendages (limbs) white to pink, narrowly elliptic to obdeltoid. Male Flowers: 2-8; anthers red. Female Flowers: Pedicel short, exserted from involucre. Ovary 3-angular, appressed-hairy, 3-locular, one ovule per loculus, placentation axile; styles 3, free, 02-0.6 mm, bifid up to middle. Capsule 3-angular, depressed-subglobose, 1-1.5 mm x 1-1.5 mm, appressed-hairy, splitting into 3 one-seeded cocci. Seeds brownish red to orange or pink, 0.7-0.9 mm x 0.5-0.7 mm, ovoid-quadrangular with a few shallow transverse ridges on each face, ecarunculate.

Flowering and Fruiting: Almost throughout the year
Common Names: Pillpod Spurge, Asthma Weed, Dove Milk, Common Spurge, Cats Hair; Bara Dudhi (Hindi)