Erect, 3-6 dm, branched above, finely hairy; lvs widely spreading or often drooping, thin, ovate-oblong to broadly ovate, abruptly short-acuminate, finely and regularly toothed, rounded to cordate at base; pistillate fls in terminal spikes 3-8 cm, also a few in the axillary staminate clusters; bracts tending to embrace the fr, cleft to about the middle into 13-17 linear segments; fr deeply 3-lobed, 3-4 mm thick, beset with slender projections and also ±pubescent. A weed in grain-fields, gardens, and waste places; N.J. to Ind. and Neb., s. to Fla. and Tex.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.