280 EUPIIOHBIACE.E (Crowii). [Euphorlla. 



4 



with thick fleshy or subtuberoiis roots ; branches opposite or 

 repeatedly forked, J-2 lin. thick ((hned), terete, with intcrnodes 

 2-6 lin. long, glabrous ; leaves rudimentary, soon deciduous, oppo- 

 site, |— I lin. long, spathulate, with a short broad or linear petiole 

 abruptly dilated into a transverse elliptic or elliptic-oblong blade, 

 subtruncate or very broadly rounded and subapiculate at the apex, 

 longitudinally folded or channelled, glabrous or with a few hairs 

 along the midrib on the upper side ; flowers solitary at the ends 

 of the ultimate branchlets, but with a flowering branchlet gi^owing 

 out from the axil of one or both bracts ; bracts about as long as the 

 involucre, like the leaves ; involucre sessile, -1-1 lin. in diam. and 



2 _3 



lin. deep, cup-shaped, glabrous outside, pubescent within, but 

 the pubescence not or scarcely visible when wetted, with 5 glands 

 and 5 very small ovate ciliate lobes ; glands scarcely contiguous, 

 shortly stalked, \-'^^ lin. in their greater diam., transversely oblong 

 or elliptic-oblong, entire ; ovary and capsule obtusely 3-angled, 

 glabrous, with a small acutely 3-lobed calyx at the truncate base, 

 exserted and curbed to one side on a slender pedicel 1-2 lin. 

 beyond the involucre ; styles united into a slender column \ lin. 

 long, with spreading arms ^ lin. long, minutely or shortly bitid at 

 apex; capsule about 2 lin. in diam., smooth ; seeds 1-^- lin. long, 

 ovoid, truncate at the base, shortly acute at the apex, with 3 slight 

 ridge-like angles, rugulose, of a somcAvhat steel-grey colour. 



Central Rkgiox : Middelburg Div. ; plains at Hosmead Junction, 4000 ft., 

 Sim in Herb. Galpin, ^^lij I Schooinbie, TrolUp ! Colesberg or Hanover Div. ; on 

 the great plain between Colesberg and Hanover, 4500 ft.. Bohts^ 2201 ! 



52, E. arceuthobioides (Boiss. Cent. Euphorb. 20, and in DO. 

 Prodr, XV. ii. 76) ; a much-branched succulent bush, f-1 ft. liigh, 



leafless and spineless^ unisexual ; main stems 1^—2 lin, thick at the 

 base ; main branches in 3-4 pairs, opposite, i-1 lin. thick when 

 <hied, variably divei'ging, dichotomously and trichotomously forking 

 into numerous branchlets, often variably curved, terete, usually 

 slightly rough from minute papilla-like and mostly laterally com- 

 pressed tubercles ; leaves rudimentary, opposite, sessile or sub- 

 sessile, often recurved, f-1 lin. long, broadly ovate, oblong or oblong- 

 obovate, very obtuse or subapiculate, usually with a small tooth or 

 angle on each side near the base, slightly concave and puberulous 

 on the upper surface, convex and glabrous on the back, dark brown, 

 persistent ; cymes once or twice forked, their ultimate branchlets 

 1^-9 lin. long, 1 flowered ; bracts shorter than the Involucre, f--l 

 lin. long, somewhat obovate or subspathulate or like the leaves ; in- 

 volucre unisexual, l|-lf lin, in diam. cup-shaped, very minutely 

 puberulous at the very base, otherwise glabrous outside, with •> 

 glands and 5 oblong fringe-toothed lobes : glands J-f lin. in their 

 greater diam., transversely oblong, entire; capsule 2 lin, in diam.? 

 glabrous, with a circular discdike calyx at its base and just exserted 

 beyond the involucre ; styles very shortly united at the base, with 

 radiating arms r lin. long, bifid to below the middle ; seeds about 



