EUPHORBIACEAE. 233 



extrorse anthers. Style simple, infundibuliform at the apex; stigma many- 

 lobed, with hanging subulate branches. Capsule deeply silicate into many 

 cocci; seeds rounded, compressed. [Aboriginal name.] Two or three species 

 of tropical America, the following typical. 



1. Hura crepitans L. Sp. PL 1008. 1753. 



A high, umbrageous tree, the trunk and branches often prickly. Leaves 

 variable in shape, roundish, about 5-7 cm. in diameter, cordate at the base, 

 abruptly acuminate, serrate or subentire, the blade often shorter than the 

 petiole; stipules linear-lanceolate, pubescent; anthers usually 1-3-seriate ; 

 stigma large, violet-red; capsule concave at both ends, splitting noisily when 

 ripe and dry, 7-8 cm. broad, 3-4 cm. high. 



Planted in Nassau, New Providence, and perhaps spontaneous after cultivation : 

 West Indies and Mexico to tropic America. SAMJBOX-TREE. 



24. PEDILANTHUS Poit. Ann. Mus. Paris 19: 390. 1812. 



Shrubs with fleshy branches and milky juice, alternate leaves with the 

 midrib thickened beneath (rarely leafless), glandular stipules (if present), op- 

 posite floral leaves, and cymose terminal or axillary involucres. Involucres 

 oblique, shoe-shaped, the tube more or less fissured superiorly and notched 

 inferiorly at the bilabiate apex or throat, with 2 lateral and 1 median accessory 

 lobes more or less closing the fissure, the tube bearing an appendix on the 

 superior side of its posterior extremity. Appendix gibbous and interiorly 

 glandular, its lip notched or 2-3-lobed and extending anteriorly above the 

 posterior end of the fissure of the tube. Flowers pedicellate, the male numerous, 

 ecalyeulate, sometimes with linear bracteoles at the base; female single with the 

 long style finally protruding and generally declinate from the throat of the 

 tube; stigmas 3, connate, often separate at the apex and frequently 2-lobed. 

 Seeds ecarunculate. [Greek, slipper-flower.] About 30 species. Type species: 

 Euphorbia tithymaloides L. 



Leafy; appendix 4-glandular. l. P.tifhymaloidea. 



Leafless ; appendix 2-glandular. 2. P. bcthamcnsis. 



1. Pedilanthus tithymaloides (L.) Poit. Ann. Mus. Paris 19: 390. 1812. 



Euphorbia tithymaloides L. Sp. PI. 453. 1753. 



Branched, 1.2-1.8 m. high; leaves glabrous, subsessile, cuneate at the base, 

 ovate or oblong, 3.5-7.5 cm. long, apex acute often recurved, margin subundu- 

 late, the mid-vein prominently undulate-carinate beneath. Cymes terminal, 

 dense ; floral leaves ovate, long-acuminate, slightly longer than the peduncles., 

 early deciduous; involucres purple, 1.1-1.3 cm. long; tube thin, smooth; 

 appendix 4-glandular the lobe linear short ; male pedicels hairy, the female 

 glabrous; style shortly bifid; capsule 7.5 mm. long, 9 mm.*- broad, truncate at 

 base and apex; cocci keeled; seeds ovate, 5 mm. long. 



Waste places and in coppices, Andros and Cat Island: Florida: West Indies; 

 Mexico ; Central and Caribbean South America. SLIPPER-PLAXT. FIDDLE-FLOWER. 



2. Pedilanthus bahamensis Millsp. Field Mus. Bot. 2: 359. 1913. 



Glabrous, 1-1.5 m. high, leafless, irregularly branched, the branches gray, 

 roughened with transverse ridges. Inflorescence terminal ; bracts cucullate, one 

 third to one quarter the length of the peduncles; involucres about 9 mm. long, 



16 



