However, on the extremities of the plant, the leaf arrangement reverses from decussate to alternate. The compound leaves vary in size according to the overall size of the plant. Each leaf has a slender stalk of up to 6 cm in length. The leaflets of a single leaf are uneven in size, the largest being up to 15 cm. The flowers are very abundant and they are either male or female.
Most plants are dioecious, but some are monoecious.
Female plants are very leafy up to the top, whereas male plants have the leaves on the inflorescence fewer and much further apart. The bract or calyx completely covers the ovary and forms a basally swollen tubular sheath about 2 mm long, out of which two stigmas project. This sheath is covered ,with slender hairs and short stalked or stalkless circular glands. The drugs mentioned in these pages are illegal in South Africa Do not experiment with any of them.