230 EUPHORBIACEAE. 



17. RICINUS L. Sp. PI. 1007. 1753. 



A tall stout monoecious herb, glabrous and glaucous, with alternate large 

 peltate palmately lobed leaves, and numerous small apetalous greenish flowers 

 in terminal racemes, the pistillate above the staminate. Staminate flowers with 

 a 3-5-parted calyx, the segments valvate, and numerous crowded stamens; 

 filaments repeatedly branched. Pistillate flowers with a caducous calyx. Cap- 

 sule subglobose, or oval, separating into 3, 2-valved carpels. Endosperm fleshy 

 and oily. [Latin name of the plant.] A monotypic genus. 



1. Ricinus communis L. Sp. PI. 1007. 1753. 



Stem erect, 1-5 m. tall, more or less branched, becoming tree-like in warm 

 regions. Leaves nearly orbicular in outline, 1-6 dm. broad, 6-11-palmately 

 lobed and peltate, the lobes toothed, acute or acuminate ; capsule 12-16 mm. in 

 diameter, usually spiny; seeds shining, smooth, black, variegated with white, 

 or mottled with gray and brown markings. 



Adventitious in waste places on New Providence and Cat Islands : Bermuda ; 

 North Carolina to Florida, Texas and Mexico; West Indies; continental tropical 

 America. Native of the Old World tropics. Castor-oil Plant. 



18. MANIHOT Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 356. 1763. 



Monoecious herbs or shrubs of vigorous growth, generally with glaucous 

 glabrous leaves. Leaves alternate, the blades entire or palmately 3-7-lobed, 

 the segments membranous or leathery, entire or lobed. Flowers apetalous, in 

 branched racemes, the staminate with a calyx of 5 partially united sepals; 

 stamens 10, in 2 series; filaments slender, those of the inner series attached to 

 the lobes of the disk; anthers opening lengthwise. Pistillate flowers with a 

 calyx similar to that of the staminate but the tube often shorter; ovary 3- 

 celled; styles 3, slightly united at the base; ovules solitary in each cell. Cap- 

 sule 3-celled; seeds solitary in each carpel. [Name Brazilian.] About 80 

 species of South America, the following typical. 



1. Manihot Manihot (L.) Cockerell, Bull. Torr. Club 19: 95. 1892. 



Jatropha Manihot L. Sp. PI. 1007. 1753. 



Herbaceous; stems 0.8-1.5 m. high, more or less branched. Leaves 37- 

 parted, the segments linear to elliptic or slightly broadest above the middle, 

 acute or acuminate, entire ; petiole about as long as the blade or longer ; 

 bracts shorter than the pedicels; calyx eampanulate, 6-8 mm. long, its lobes 

 ovate, obtuse, about as long as the tube; calyx of the pistillate flowers with 

 a shorter tube than that of the staminate. 



Reappearing after cultivation, Andros and Eleuthera : Widely cultivated and 

 more or less persistent in tropical and subtropical regions. Native of South Amer- 

 ica. Cassava. 



19. BONANIA A. Rich, in Sagra, Hist. Cuba 11: 201. 1850. 



Low glabrous shrubs with alternate coriaceous leaves and axillary spicate 

 monoecious flowers. Leaves short-petioled, small, entire or glandular-dentate 

 or serrate. Disk none. Male flowers 3 from each bract, subsessile; 

 calyx membranous, the margin truncate or broadly and slightly 2-3-lobed. 

 Stamens 2 (rarely 3); filaments free, short; anthers small, the cells dis- 



