Herbaceous, up to 1 m. Oblong-lanceolate leaves, 13 to 28 cm, obtuse. Bracts ovate to orbicular, 2.5 to 3.5 cm, obtuse, green with pale border; pubescent margin; white corolla, thin tube of

2.5 cm; lobes acuminate. 2.5 cm ellipsoid fruit. 

Herb 30-100 cm high, with robust, branched, rhizome near the surface of the soil. Leaves, 5-25 x 1-3 cm, linear-lanceolate, sessile, with acute apex and cuneate base, glabrous; inflorescence cylindrical, spikes 4-7 x 1.5-2.5 cm, corolla yellowish-green; flower produced in the axil of yellowish bracts; fruit a three-valved capsule with small black arillate seeds.

Annual tree of up to 2 m in height. Rough or rugose stem. Broadly ovate or suborbicular leaves of 3 to 5 lobes, with a more or less cordate base, 8 to 18 cm long and dentate. Male heads at the apex of the branches and in the axils of the leaves; one or a few female heads at the base of the inflorescences, with hooked bracts. Capsular, ovoid and prickly fruit; spines straight and hooked at the apex.

Herbaceous, robust, upright, perennial. Glabrous culms, 1 to 2 m in height. Leaves of up to 1 m in length, glabrous, scabrous on the edge. Elongated-pyramidal panicles of up to 30 cm; individual racemes of up to 5 cm; purple spikelets, without bristles.