Inflorescence spicate, paniculate or an axillary arrangement of glomerules of flowers. Flowers <1 mm long, bisexual, female or functionally male. Bisexual or male flowers terminal or near-terminal in the glomerule, the females lateral. Perianth segments 1–4, with 3 or 4 in terminal flowers of glomerule, free or fused at the base; limb hooded and often inflated. Stamens 1 or 2. Ovary membranous, smooth to papillate.
Seed erect, oblique or horizontal, globose to ellipsoid or laterally compressed; testa thickened, smooth.
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Perianth segments 5 | 2 |
| Perianth segments 1–4 | 7 |
| 2 | Annuals; stamens 0, 1 or 2 | 3 |
| Perennials, spreading sometimes woody herb to 1m high; stamens 5
Back to 1 | 13 |
| 3 | Perianth segments fused to near apex | Dysphania truncata |
| Perianth segments fused below halfway
Back to 2 | 4 |
| 4 | Perianth segments strongly crested with a fimbriate keel | Dysphania cristata |
| Perianth segments rounded to acute, if keeled then broadest at the base and the keel not frimbriate
Back to 3 | 5 |
| 5 | Perianth segments fused in lower half, often dark | Dysphania melanocarpa |
| Perianth segments fused only near the base, usually light coloured
Back to 4 | 6 |
| 6 | Perianth segments rounded in back, exposing fruit, especially below | Dysphania pumilio |
| Perianth segments keeled, at least towards the apex, more or less covering the fruit
Back to 5 | Dysphania carinata |
| 7 | Perianth segments 1–3 | 8 |
| Perianth segments 4
Back to 1 | 12 |
| 8 | Flowers in axillary globerules | 9 |
| Flowers in spike-like inflorescences
Back to 7 | 11 |
| 9 | Perianth segments 3 or 4; seed top-shaped to subglobose | Dysphania littoralis |
| Perianth segments of lateral flowers of glomerules 1 or 2; seed erect , ellipsoid to obovoid or laterally flattened
Back to 8 | 10 |
| 10 | Seeds strongly flattened, often slightly twisted, obovate to triangular; pericarp almost smooth | Dysphania platycarpa |
| Seed ellipsoid or obovoid; pericarp smooth or minutely papillate
Back to 9 | Dysphania glomulifera |
| 11 | Perianth segments free, rounded or inconspicuously keeled | Dysphania plantaginella |
| Lower half of perianth segments fused into a hardened tube, keeled
Back to 8 | Dysphania simulans |
| 12 | Seeds glossy, usually compressed with an equatorial ridge; perianth segments hairy, not inflated | Dysphania kalpari |
| Seed dull, subglobose without an equatorial ridge; perianth segments inflated, glabrous or sparsely hairy
Back to 7 | Dysphania rhadinostachya |
| 13 | Seeds horizontal or oblique; fruiting perianth not pouch-like | Dysphania ambrosioides |
| Seeds vertical; fruiting perianth pouch-like
Back to 2 | Dysphania multifida |
