Shrub or small tree to 15 m high, evergreen. Leaves alternate, not peltate; blade lanceolate-ovate, obovate or ovate, 10-110 mm long, 5-70 mm wide; lower surface with sparse, yellow, stalkless glands; tip short to long-acuminate; base wedge-shaped, rounded or abruptly narrowed; margins entire or weakly wavy. Fruits roundish, 5-8 mm long, 7-10 mm wide, hairs and spiny projections absent, stalkless glands yellow to orange-yellow.
M. claoxyloides (F.Muell.) Müll. Arg.,Odour Bush, from Australia and New Guinea is a shrub or small tree to 5 m high, evergreen. Leaves opposite, not peltate; blade elliptic, oblong or obovate, 35-170 mm long, 20-80 mm wide; lower surface with scattered, yellow, stalkless glands; tip acute, long-pointed or rounded; base cordate to rounded; margins wavy or weakly toothed with 8-15 teeth to 4 mm long. Fruits roundish, 6-8 mm long, 11-13 mm wide, with star-shaped hairs and simple spiny projections to 1 mm long, stalkless glands absent. The foliage is reputed to emit a strong 'scrub' odour.
M. mollissimus (Geisel.) Airy Shaw from Australia, Malesia and Melanesia is a shrub or small tree to 10 m high, evergreen. Leaves alternate, more or less peltate; blade broadly ovate, orbicular-ovate or ovate, 45-50 mm long, 22-24 mm wide; lower surface with dense yellow stalkless glands; tip short- to long-acuminate; base cordate, rounded or abruptly narrowed; margins weakly wavy or weakly toothed with 10-12 small teeth to 1 mm long. Fruits roundish, 5-8 mm long, 7-8 mm wide, with star-shaped hairs and simple spiny projections to 4 mm long, stalkless glands absent.
M. philippensis (Lam.) Müll.Arg., Red Kamala, from Asia, Malesia and Australia is a shrub or small tree to 10 m high, evergreen. Leaves alternate, not peltate; blade elliptic, lanceolate-ovate or obovate,15-200 mm long, 8-100 mm wide; lower surface with dense, red, stalkless glands; tip acute, shortly acuminate or obtuse; base wedgeshaped, rounded or abruptly narrowed; margins generally entire or weakly wavy. Fruits depressed-roundish, 4-7.5 mm long, 7-12 mm wide, occasionally with starshaped hairs, spiny projections absent, stalkless glands red. The red fruit coating has been used as a cloth dye.
Australia.
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.