354 EUPHORDiACE.f: (Brown). [Ei'pJiorlia. 



151. E. polygona (Haw. Misc. Nat. 184, and Syn. PI. Succ. 129) ; 



dicecious ; stems simple or slightly branching at the base, perhaps 

 several from the same root, succulent, leafless, spiny or nearly 

 spineless, erect, 1-2 ft. high, 3-4 in. thick, when very young 

 7-angle(l, with age developing 10-20 angles, glabrous, green and 

 slightly glaucous on the young growth in wild plants, not glaucous 

 when cultivated under glass, becoming grey with age ; angles 

 vertical or slightly spiral, acute, slightly crenulate, often wavy, 

 separated by acute furrows about f in. deep ; leaves rudimentary, 

 ^i— 1| lin. long, oblong-lanceolate or deltoid-lanceolate, acuminate, 

 i^igid and hard, soon deciduous, dark reddish-brown or blackish ; 

 spines (modified peduncles) solitary or 2-3 from a flowering-eye, 

 scattered along the angles, 2-4 lin. long, bearuig a few minute 

 scattered bracts, dark purple or blackish-brown, becoming grey ; 

 flowers arising at and near the apex of the stems, often one on each 

 side and at the base of a previously formed spine ; peduncles 1-2 

 lin. long, bearing 1 involucre and several bracts, dull purple ; upper 

 bracts 11-2^ lin. long, 1-2 lin. broad, obovate, obtusely rounded at 

 the apex, glabrous above, minutely puberulous beneath, minutely 

 ciliate ; lower bracts much smaller and oblong ; involucre unisexual, 

 2^-3| lin. in diam. and li lin. deep, cup-shaped, nearly or quite 

 glabrous outside, dark purple, with 5 glands and 5 rounded 

 minutely toothed lobes ; glands not quite contiguous ; slightly 

 sloping outwards, 1-1 1 lin. in their greater diam., transversely 

 elliptic or elliptic-oblong, dark purple; capsule 2^-3 lin. in diam., 

 globose or very slightly 3-lobed as seen from above, velvety- 

 pubescent, erect, exserted on a pedicel not exceeding the involucre ; 

 styles united into a column about ^ lin. long, with spreading arms 

 of the same length, minutely bifid at the tips ; seeds Ih lin. long, 

 ovoid, acute at one end, obscurely 4-angled, smooth, brown. Spreng> 

 Sy-^t. Vcg. iii. 786 ; Boiss. in DC, Prodr. xv. ii. 88 ; Berger, SiM. 

 Eni)liorh, 99^100,///. 25. 



Coast Region: Uitenhage Biv. ; Red Hill, Mrs. Patemon, 1173!^ For* 

 ElizaLeth Div. ; Commadagga, Miss Gangster ! near Poit Elizabeth, DregCj 7 . 

 Mrs, Patersoay 1113! and cultivated plants \ 



Described from Hving plants cultivated at Kew and otberd iient to Kew by 

 Ml. I. L. Drege and Mrs. Paterson. Boissier and iBerger both state that the 

 plant grows to 4-5 ft. high, but no example I have seen has been more than 

 20 iucheri high, and Mr. Droge writes that out of thou;ianda he has seen none have 

 been more than 2 ft. high. 



F 



152, E. stellffispina (Haw. in Phil. Mag. 1827, 275) ; stems erect, 

 branching at the base, ultimately forming denise clumps, succulent, 

 leafless, spiny, 8-18 in. high, 1^-3 in. in diam., 10-16-angled, with 

 the grooves between the angles 2-3 lin. deep, green, not transversely 

 banded nor glaucous, becoming brown with age ; angles rather 

 obtuse or subacute, tuberculate-toothed ; teeth short, conical, often 

 somewhat deflexed, 2^-3 lin. apart; leaves rudimentary and soon 

 deciduous, lJ-5 lin. long, linear or linear-lanceolate, acute, fleshy? 



