Erect, spreading shrub to 2 m high. Leaf blade ovate, 70-250 mm long, 50-150 mm wide; upper and lower surfaces becoming hairless; venation palminerved with 5 veins from base and 9-12 lateral veins per side of midrib further up the blade; margins scalloped; tip acute to shortly acuminate; base cordate, wedge-shaped or obtuse. Inflorescences axillary and single, racemose or spike-like, usually unisexual. Female flowers with styles red, 2.5-9 mm long. Syn A. tricolor Seem.
There are numerous named and unnamed cultivars in existence. Many are illustrated in Ellison (1995). Widespread in cultivation and tolerant of seaside conditions. Intolerant of frost.
Fiji.
Source: (2002). Euphorbiaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Leaf blade broad, red-brown, margins scalloped.
Leaf blade broad, pale yellow with few green markings, margins scalloped.
Acalypha wilkesiana 'Firestorm'
Leaf blade narrow, green with broad cream and pink edges, margins wavy.
Acalypha wilkesiana 'Godseffiana'
Leaf blade narrow, green with broad cream edges, margins scalloped.
Acalypha wilkesiana 'Hoffmannia'
Leaf blade very broad, green with narrow cream edges, margins sawtoothed.
Leaf blade narrow, pink-red or cream-pink, margins scalloped.
Acalypha wilkesiana 'Macafeeana'
Leaf blade broad, pink-red and tan bicoloured, margins scalloped.
Acalypha wilkesiana 'Marginata'
Leaf blade broad, dark green with pale pink edges, margins sawtoothed.
Acalypha wilkesiana 'Raggedy Ann'
Leaf blade narrow, pink-red, brown and green, margins irregularly lobed.
Acalypha wilkesiana 'Sunset Hue'
Leaf blade broad, light green, dark green and yellow, margins scalloped.