Deciduous shrub to 5 m high. Branches with distichous foliage, 150-230 mm long. Leaves 80-160 per branch, more or less contiguous or only slightly apart; blade linear-oblong, 4-15 mm long, 1-2.5 mm wide, more or less stalkless; tip acute to apiculate; base rounded. Flowers greenish yellow.

P. acidus (L.) Skeels, Gooseberry Tree, from S America is an evergreen shrub to 5 m high. Branches with distichous foliage,150-350 mm long. Leaves 15-25 per branch, spaced 5-12 mm apart; blade elliptic, lanceolate-ovate to ovate, 15-75 mm long, 10-35 mm wide, tip acute to long-pointed; base wedge-shaped to rounded, leaf stalk 1.5-2.5 mm long. Flowers greenish yellow. Syn. P. distichus Müll. Arg.

P. myrtifolius (Wight) Müll. Arg. from Sri Lanka is an evergreen subshrub to 30 cm high. Branches with distichous foliage, 30-200 mm long. Leaves 6-36 per branch, spaced 2-4 mm apart; blade falcate, oblanceolate, 3-16 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, more or less stalkless or with short leaf stalk to 1 mm long; tip acute; base cordate. Flowers greenish red. Syn. P. minutiflorus auct. non Müll. Arg.; P. multiflorus auct. non Willd.

P. microcladus Müll. Arg., Stick Bush, from Qld and NSW is a deciduous shrub to 2 m high. Branches with spirally arranged foliage, 1-15 mm long. Leaves 2-6 per branch, closely clustered; blade elliptic, obovate or suborbicular, 1-5 mm long, 1-3 mm wide, more or less stalkless; tip obtuse, rounded or abruptly narrowed; base rounded. Flowers white to yellowish.

Also sometimes cultivated is P. sp. 1, an undescribed species from Qld which is an evergreen shrub to 2 m high. Branches with spirally arranged foliage, 220-350 mm long. Leaves 6-10 per branch, spaced 15-60 mm apart; blade elliptic, 30-190 mm long, 20-45 mm wide, long, tip acute to long-pointed; base wedgeshaped, leaf stalk 3-5 mm. Flowers bright red. Syn. P. brassii of authors, other than C.T. White.

Asia.

Source: Forster, P. (2002). Euphorbiaceae. In: Spencer, R.. 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.