Pilea symmeria Wedd.

Herbs perennial, stoloniferous, monoecious or dioecious. Stems branched or simple, 30-120 cm tall, succulent distally, swollen between nodes. Stipules persistent, interpetiolar, triangular, connate into an auricle at base, 1-2 mm, herbaceous; petiole unequal in length, 1-5 cm; leaf blade abaxially pale green, ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or oblong lanceolate, sometimes asymmetric, unequal in size, 4-14 × 2-7 cm, membranous, 3-veined, lateral veins many, transverse, abaxial surface puberulent at base, adaxial surface sparsely pilose, cystoliths small or inconspicuous, adaxial, base rounded or subcordate, margin serrate or crenate-serrate, apex caudate-acuminate. Inflorescences solitary, male a paniculate cyme, often as long as leaves, pedunculate; female ones shorter; bracts triangular-ovate, 1-2 mm. Male flowers pedicellate, in bud obovoid, 1.5-2 mm; perianth lobes 4, connate at base, subapically conspicuously corniculate or beaked; stamens 4; rudimentary ovary small, conic. Female flowers subsessile, in bud ca. 1 mm; perianth lobes connate at base, unequal, abaxial lobe cymbiform, longer, subapically corniculate; staminodes 3, scale-like, oblong. Achene brownish, often purplish spotted, obliquely ovoid, 1.2-1.5 mm, compressed, smooth. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

S Xizang [Bhutan, N India, Nepal, Sikkim].

Himalaya (Kumaun to Bhutan), Khasia, W. & C. China.

2100-3300 m

Shaded wet places in forests; 2100-3300 m.