General Description

Herbs perennial, glabrous, 0.5-1.5 m tall. Roots obconic, thick, fleshy. Stems erect, green or reddish purple, terete, longitudinally grooved, fleshy, branched. Petiole 1.5-3 cm; leaf blade elliptic or lanceolate-elliptic, 10-30 cm long, 4.5-15 cm wide, papery, base cuneate, apex acuminate or sharply pointed. Racemes erect, terete, usually shorter than leaves, densely flowered; peduncle 1-4 cm. Pedicel 6-10 mm. Flowers bisexual, ca. 8 mm in diameter. Tepals 5, white or yellowish green, elliptic, ovate, or oblong, 3-4 mm long, ca. 2 mm broad, equal, after anthesis reflexed. Stamens 8-10, ca. as long as tepals; filaments persistent, white, subulate, base broad; anthers pink, elliptic. Carpels usually 8, distinct. Styles erect, short, apex curved. Infructescence erect. Berry purplish black when mature, oblate, ca. 7 mm in diameter. Seeds reniform, ca. 3 mm, 3-angulate, smooth.