Annual erect, stellately tomentose with a deep, long, straight, slender tap root; stem usually naked below, sparingly branched above; leaves alternate, ovate to orbicular, obtuse at apex, truncate-cuneate at base, roughly 3 lobed, thick, rugose, pale-green, densely, stellate-hairy on both surfaces; floweres in axillary or terminal racemes; bracts linear, caducous; in male flowers outer tepals ovate, stellately hairy, inner tepals yellow, ovate-lanceolate; stamens 5-15, 1-3 seriate, filaments connate at base; in female flowers: outer tepals deltoid, acute, hairy, inner tepals yellow, short, setaceous; ovary 3-locular, ovules solitary in each, styles 3, each bifid; capsule subglobose, purplish, stellately tomentose; seeds globose, ash-coloured.