Annual or perennial herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs; often covered with bladderlike hairs, that later collapse and form a silvery, scurfy or mealy surface, rarely with elongate trichomes. Leaves alternate, or rarely opposite, petiolate or sessile, often persistent or tardily deciduous; lamina flat or slightly fleshy; margins entire or toothed, or lobed and very variable in shape. Inflorescence consists of axillary or terminal spikes or spicate panicles, or axillary clusters of glomeruled flowers. Flowers are unisexual, some species are monoecious, others dioecious. Male flowers consist of 3-5 perianth lobes; female flowers usually lack a perianth, but are enclosed by 2 foliaceous bracteoles. Fruit an achene, enclosed by and united with 2 erect bracteoles. Seeds flattened, leathery. Worldwide: 250-300 species almost worldwide. Zambia: 1 taxon. |
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