An evergreen planted tree 20 feet high, with short stout trunk to 6 inches in diameter, few stout branches, and compact dense half-round crown as broad as height of tree. Bark light gray brown with darker streaks, becoming finely fissured. Inner bark whitish with light green outer layer, almost tasteless, with abundant white latex. Twigs very stout, green with large whitish dots (lenticels), becoming light gray brown, with large oblong raised leaf scars and often with scattered stinging hairs. Leaves alternate, with very long round green petioles 6-14 inches long, spreading in all directions. Leaf blades 6-14 inches long and broad, palmately 7- or 5-lobed with as many light green veins from the heart-shaped base, the lobes deeply divided and narrow, long pointed, and coarsely toothed with smaller lobes, thin and hairless. The upper surface is dull dark green and turned up at veins, the lower surface dull light green with raised veins. Flower clusters (cymes) are terminal at the end of a long stalk, flat-topped, and 3-5 inches across, bearing many male flowers and few female flowers (monoecious) without petals. Male flowers many but only a few open at one time, about 1/2 inch long and broad, consisting of narrow greenish-tinged calyx tube 1/4 inch long, 5 spreading elliptic lobes 1/4 inch long, and on orange disk the white stamen column with 2 circles of 5 stamens to 3/8 inch long and third circle nonfunctional (staminodes). Female flowers few, terminal, opening first, composed of 5 white sepals more than 1/4 inch long which fall early and on a disk the pistil 1/4 inch long, with finely hairy light green egg-shaped 3-celled ovary with 3 ovules and 3 white widely working styles. The fruit is a bristly ellliptic-3-celled capsule 3/8 inch long. Seeds 1 in each cell, more than 1/4 inch long.

Antidiabetic (leaves)

PROTAbase: Cnidoscolus aconitifolius

β-carotene, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, ascorbic acid (leaves)

Chaya leaves has numerous characteristics, ranging from the ability to strengthen fingernails and darken graying hair. It is also used to cure alcoholism, diabetics, insomnia, skin disorders, venereal diseases, gout, scorpion stings and to improve brain function and memory.