Japan flora: Annual, 20-30 cm. high; stems erect, 4-ang!ed, short-branched; leaves spreading, broadly linear to lanceolate-oblong, 2.5-5 cm. long, 3-12 mm. wide, or 7-20 mm. long, 1-4 mm. wide in those of the branches, acute to sub- obtuse, slightly narrowed and rounded at the clasping and auriculate base; flowers few, in dense sessile axillary cymes, the pedicels about as long as the flowers; flowers about 1.5 mm. across; calyx obconical, obsoletely 4-angled, the lobes deltoid; petals minute, whitish; stamens 4; capsules globose, 2-2.5 mm. across, red-brown, lustrous, half-exscrted from the calyx; styles distinct, slightly less than 1 mm. long, the stigmas rather thickened; seeds minute, brown. Sept-Nov. Wet places in lowlands, especially in paddy fields;

Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu. Tropics and subtropics of Africa, Asia, and Australia.