352 EUPiiouBlACE/E (Bi'own). [Euphorbia. 



Ijy an acute groove ; spines (moditied peduncles) solitary, stout, 

 rigid, }—2^ in. long, ^-1 lin. thick at the base, 2-3 lin, apart, 

 in vertical rows along the angles, somewhat ascending-spreading, 

 usually more or less curved, glabrous, at first dark red, then 

 blackish-purplej finally grey ; flowering peduncles in the male plant 

 ■i-12 lin, long, in the female 2|-7 lin. (or perhaps more) long, |-1 lin. 

 thick, bearing 1 involucre and 4-6 very small bracts, glabrous, dark 

 red ; bracts scale-like, mostly clustered around the base of the 

 involucre and much shorter than it, much broader than long, 

 broadly rounded; involucre about l2~2| lin, in diam., 1-1 4 lin. 

 deep, usually larger in the male than in the feinale plant, cup-shaped, 

 glabrous, dark red, with 5 glands and 5 subquadrate or oblong 

 minutely toothed lobes ; glands distant, erect in the male, inflexed 

 or pressed against the ovary in the female, f-1^ lin. in their greater 

 diam., transversely oblong or broadly rounded, entire ; immature 

 capsule sessile, but with the greater part exserted from the 

 involucre, globose, faintly grooved, glabrous ; styles 1 lin. long, 

 united into a stout column for two-thirds of their length, with stout 

 slightly spreading biiid tips ; ripe fruit and seeds not seen. 



Central Rkgiox : Janseuville Div. ; Karoo, near Watcrford and near Aberdeen 

 Road, Ih^ege, 4 1 Willowmore Div. ; stony places on Witte Poort Mountains, 

 2000-3000 ft., Dregc, 8207 ! 



Described from living branches bearing flowers, which exactly agree with the 

 tj'pe, and flowers in formalin, sent to Kew by Mr. I, L. Dioge of Port Elizabeth, 

 giandson of the original discoverer. Boidsier, In DO, Prodr, xv. ii. 89, has 

 erroneously described E. enopla as a shrub 2-3 ft. high, but the specimens and 

 labels give no evidence of this, and in the original description the height is not 

 mentioned. A photograph of the wild plant sent to Kew by Mr. Drege repre- 

 sents it as less than 1 ft. high. The E. enopla of Berger is quite a different plant, 

 see F, keptago7ia, Linn. 



148. E. ferox CMailoth in Trans. Hoy. Soc. S, Afr. iii. 122, t. 8, 

 fig. 1) ; a succulent very spiny leafless plant ; stems forming clumps 

 ^-2 ft. in diam., simple or sparingly branching at the base or at 

 the ground-level, individually 3-10 in. long, of which 1-6 in. in the 

 specimens seen is buried in the ground, I4-I J in. thick, 9-12-angled, 

 light dull green, not glaucous; angles 1^-2^ lin. prominent, obtuse, 

 nearly even ; spines (modified peduncles) solitary, numerous, arranged 

 along the angles, mostly 1^-3 lin. apart, h-l\ in, long, stout and 

 •|-1 lin, thick at the base, very rigid, woody, straight or variably 

 curved and more or less horizontally spreading except the few at 

 the apex, brown, glaucous, becoming grey, persisting throughout on 

 the part above ground ; leaves rudimentary, 1 lin. long, linear- 

 oblong, subacute, concave-channelled down the face, glabrous, 

 deciduous ; peduncles about 5-6 to a stem, apical, erect, 2-3 lin. 

 long, bearing 1 involucre and about 6-9 brown scale-like bracts, 

 those at the base of the involucre ■§— 1 lin. long, oblong, obtuse or 

 lacerate, glabrous, sparsely ciliate, the others smaller ; involucre 

 sessile within the bracts, 1-1 ^ lin. in diam., cup-shaped, glabrous, 

 apparently pui-plish and very minutely white-dotted, with 5 glands 



