218 



EUPHORBLACEAE. 



2. Poinsettia cyathophora 

 (Murr.) S. Brown. ANNUAL POIN- 

 SETTIA. (Fig. 244.) Annual, her- 

 baceous, 2i high or less, pubescent. 

 Stem stout, hollow, simple, or 

 branched. Leaves clustered at the 

 ends of the stem and branches, ovate 

 to obovate in outline, coarsely angu- 

 lately few-toothed, acute or acuminate, 

 green, or the upper with whitish bases; 

 involucres in dense, broad, terminal 

 clusters; capsule-valves with elevated 

 margins. [ Euphorbia cyathophora 

 Murr.] 



Common in cultivated ground. Nat- 

 uralized. Native of tropical America. 



Poinsettia pulcherrima (Willd.) 

 Graham, GARDEN POINSETTIA, Mexi- 

 can, a shrub up to 10 high, with thin 

 ovate lobed or entire, slender-petioled, 

 acute leaves 4'-8' long, and small, 

 yellowish-green, clustered flowers, sub- 

 tended by large, lanceolate, bright 

 vermilion-red bracts 2'-4' long, is 



widely planted for ornament, growing readily from cuttings, and flowering in 



the winter. [Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd.] 



11. PEDILANTHUS [Mill.] Neck. 



Fleshy shrub-like plants, with copious milky sap, alternate entire leaves 

 and very irregular oblique involucres in 

 terminal forking cymes. Involucre 

 lipped, the lower lip longer than the 

 upper, enclosing several staminate flow- 

 ers and 1 pistillate; staminate flowers 

 of a single stamen; pistillate flower 

 stalked, the style slender, bearing 3 stig- 

 mas. Capsule splitting into 3 segments. 

 [Greek, slipper-flower.] About 30 species. 

 Type species : Euphorbia tithymaloides L. 



1. Pedilanthus latifolius Millsp. & 



Britton. SLIPPER-PLANT. FIDDLE-FLOWER. 



(Fig. 245.) Erect, glabrous, usually 

 much branched, 4 -6 high, the branches 

 zigzag. Leaves ovate, l'-2i' long, acute 

 at the apex, obtuse or subcordate at 

 the base, the midrib not flanged beneath, 

 the petioles very short; involucres sev- 

 eral or numerous, salmon-colored, about 

 6" long, on slender pedicels 2"-3" long, 



glabrous. 



Hillside on Castle Point. Naturalized, 

 1912. Commonly cultivated in gardens for 

 interest. Original habitat unknown ; grown 

 in gardens in Florida and the West Indies. 

 Flowers in summer and autumn. 



* \i 



