32 EUPHORBIACEAE 



1. Euphorbia eriantha Benth. Beetle Spurge. Fig. 3033. 



Euphorbia eriantha Benth. Bot. Sulph. 51. 1844. 



Euphorbia exclusa S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 18: 150. 1883. 



Poinsettia eriantha Rose & Standley, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 16: 13. 1912. 



Erect annual or biennial 20-50 cm. tall ; stem glabrous, simple and stout below, with slender 

 ascending branches above. Leaves glabrate, entire, linear, petiolate, 2-7 cm. long, the lower alter- 

 nate, the long uppermost forming a whorl subtending and much surpassing the mflorescence ; 

 cyathia in terminal glomerules of 1 to several; involucres turbinate, 1.5-2 mm. in diameter, 

 strigose; glands 3-5, sessile, sublateral, circular or radially oval, cupped, 1.4 mm. wide, margin 

 bearing 5-7 pubescent digits inflexed to cover tlie gland; reduced glands totally absent; stami- 

 nate flowers 23-36 ; capsule 5 mm. long, strigose, oblong, slightly roundly 3-lobed ; seeds mottled 

 gray-white, 4 mm. long, oblong, truncate, subquadrate, dorsiventrally compressed, carunculate. 



Rocky canyons, Lower Sonoran Zone; Colorado Desert, California, east to Texas and Coahuila, south to 

 Lower California and Sonora. Type locality: Magdalena Bay, Lower Californxa. Jan.-May. 



2. Euphorbia misera Benth. Cliff Spurge. Fig. 3034. 



Euphorbia misera Benth. Bot. Sulph. 51. 1844. 



Trichosterigma miserum Kl. & Gke. Abh. Akad. Berlin 1859: 42. 1860. 



Shrub 0.5-1.5 m. tall ; branches mostly thick, often tortuous, glabrate at maturity ; branch- 

 lets short, thick, multinodate, scurfy, sparsely tomentulose. Leaves sparsely short-pubescent, 

 petioles 2-5 mm. long, blades 5-15 mm. long, oval-oblong to obcordate-cuneate, entire ;_ cyathia 

 solitary, borne on the branchlets, long-peduncled ; involucres open-campanulate, 3 mm. in diam- 

 eter, pubescent; glands maroon, transversely oval to oblong, 1.5-2 mm. long; appendages usually 

 conspicuous, white, glabrous, crenulate to bluntly toothed; staminate flowers 30-40; capsule 

 glabrate, roundly 3-lobed, depressed-globose, 4-5 mm. long; seeds white, ecarunculate, ovoid, 3 

 mm. long, covered with shallow irregular concavities. 



Occasional on seaward bluffs and desert mesas, Lower and Upper Sonoran Zones; coast of Orange and San 

 Diego Counties, and northwestern Colorado Desert, California, south to Lower California. Type locality: ban 

 Diego, California. April-Sept. 



3. Euphorbia Lathyris L. Caper Spurge. Fig. 3035. 



Euphorbia Lathyris L. Sp. PI. 457. 1753. 

 Tithymalus Lathyris Scop. Fl. Carn. ed. 2. 1: 333. 1772. 

 Euphorbia decussata Salisb. Prod. Stirp. 389. 1796. 

 Galarhoeus Lathyris Haw. Syn. PI. Succ. 143. 1812. 



Glabrous, glaucous, erect annual or biennial, . 5-1 m. tall ; stems stout, simple ; rays 4, 3 to 

 several times dichotomous. Leaves entire, sessile ; stem-leaves decussate, oblong-linear below to 

 lanceolate with cordate base above, 5-15 cm. long; umbel-leaves similar to upper stem-leaves; 

 floral leaves ovate-lanceolate, subcordate, to 9 cm. long; involucres glabrous, broadly campanu- 

 late, 2.5 mm. in diameter; glands crescentic, 2 mm. long, horns short, the broad tips deflexed; 

 fifth gland absent; sinus V-shaped, slightly depressed; staminate flowers 15-40; capsule (fresh) 

 spongy, glabrous, depressed-globose, roundly 3-lobed, to 1 . 5 cm. long ; capsule (dry) wrinkled, 

 7-10 mm. long, bluntly 3-angled ; seeds mottled, sordid brown, 5 mm. long, ovoid, slightly laterally 

 compressed, apex depressed-truncate, base obtuse, testa with minute low rounded vermiculate 

 ridges. 



Waste places, mostly about shrubs, introduced from Europe, Upper Sonoran Zone; western Oregon, 

 Siskiyou and Humboldt Counties, California, and near the coast from San Francisco Bay to Orange County, 

 California. Type locality: Europe. May-Nov. 



4. Euphorbia Helioscopia L. Wartweed or Wart Spurge. Fig. 3036. 



Euphorbia, Helioscopia L. Sp. PI. 459. 1753. 



Tithymalus Helioscopia Hill ex Scop. Fl. Carn. ed. 2. 1 : 337. 1772. 



Galarhoeus Helioscopia Haw. Syn. PI. Succ. 152. 1812. 



Erect annual, 12-30 cm. tall ; stems 1-3, sparsely pilose, glabrate, often stout and fistulous ; 

 rays mostly 5, repeatedly trichotomous, then dichotomous, sparsely pilose, glabrate. Leaves 

 glabrous, serrate; stem-leaves spatulate-obovate, 1-3 cm. long, lower petiolate; umbel-leaves 

 similar, larger, sessile ; floral leaves obovate-spatulate to rotund ; involucres glabrous, 2 mrn. in 

 diameter, turbinate; glands transversely oval to oblong, entire, 0.6-0.7 mm. long; fifth gland 

 short, subulate; sinus U-shaped, little depressed; staminate flowers 8-12; capsule glabrous, 

 smooth, subglobose, basally flattened, roundly 3-lobed, 3 mm. long; seeds dark brown, 2.5 mm. 

 long, ovoid, reticulate. 



Introduced from Europe as a weed in fields and orchards, Upper Sonoran Zone; Whatcom County. W'ash- 

 ington; Portland, Oregon; Humboldt and Los Angeles Counties, California; east to Quebec. Type locality: 

 Europe. June-Sept. 



5. Euphorbia spathulata Lam. Reticulate-seeded Spurge. Fig. 3037. 



Euphorbia spathulata Lam. Encycl. 2: 428. 1788. 



Euphorbia dictyosperma Fisch & Mey. Ind. Sam. Hort. Petrop. 2: 37. 1836. 

 Euphorbia arkansana Engelm. & Gray, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. 5: 261. 1845. 

 Tithymalus dictyospermus Heller, Muhlenbergia 1 : 56. 1904. 



Glabrous erect annual, 13-35 cm. tall; stems 1- to several-branched below the umbel; rays 

 3, repeatedly dichotomous. Leaves serrulate; stem-leaves obovate-spatulate, 1-3 cm. long, the 



