M.G. Gilbert (1993) Flora of Somalia 1: 285- 297

Plants shrubs or trees, to 4 m tall, densely branched; stems glabrescent. Petioles 0.2-4.5(07) cm long, glabrescent; stipules 2-5 mm long; blades (1-)3_7(-9) cm long, (0.7-)1-4.5(-5.5) cm wide, triangular-ovate to elliptic-ovate, margins coarsely crenate or crenate-serrate, tips obtuse or obtusely acuminate. Racemes up to 5.5 cm long, axillary, with 1-7 bracts subtending the pistillate flowers at or near the base, rarely unisexual; staminate buds pubescent; pistillate bracts 2-12 mm long, 3-17 mm wide. accrescent, dentate or crenate-dentate, glabrous or lower surfaces hairy over the veins; pistillate flowrs sessile, solitary; sepals 3, 1 mm long; ovaries hairy; styles about 4 mm lng, white to red. Fruits about 2 mm long,3 mm wide, hairy; seeds 1.5-2 mm long, 1-1.3 mm wide, ellipsoid-ovoid, brown; caruncle elliptic.

Acalypha fruticosa grows in Acacia woodlands, along water courses and is probably favoured by over-grazing, leading it to become locally dominant. It grows at elevations of 4-230 m in regions S1, S2, and S3 of as used in the Flora of Somalia plus elsewhere in Africa, the Arabian peninsula and east through southern Asia to Burma. 

The Somali materal belongs to var. fruticosa and has sessile yellowish glands on the undersides of its leaves, inflorescences and fruits fiving the plants an unleasant odour. The other variety, var. eglandulosa grows from Ethiopia south to Tanzania and Burundi. As its names suggests, it lacks the yellowish glands; it also lacks the associated smell. 

©Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; reproduced with permission. 

Key to the species of Somaliland and Somalia.