28 EUPHORBIACEAE 



the flowers deciduous; stamens 12-15; styles 3, palmately 2-5-cleft or twice bicleft; capsule 5-6 

 mm. long. 



Sandy hills and valleys of coastal California, Upper and Lower Sonoran Zones; Contra Costa County, 

 California, to Lower California. Type locality: San Francisco, California. A variable species breaking up into 

 ill-defined forms. April-Aug. 



Croton californicus var. tenuis (S. Wats.) Ferg. Rep. Mo. Bot. Card. 12: 64. pi. 27. fig. 1. 1901. Plant 

 with more slender stems, and narrower, oblong to lanceolate pale leaves. Santa Barbara to Lower California 

 and east to Arizona. Type locality: southern California. 



Croton californicus var. mohavensis Ferg. op. cit. 65. 1901. Plant with smaller leaves ^0.5-2 mm. long. 

 Kern County east through the Mojave and Colorado Deserts to Arizona. Type locality: "Soda Lake, Ft. 

 Mohave." 



Croton Wigginsii L. C. Wheeler, Contr. Gray Herb. No. 124: 37. 1939. {Croton arenicola Rose & Standi. 

 Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 16: 12. 1912. Not J. K. Small.) Low shrub, capsule 10-11 mm. long, seeds 7-8 mm. 

 long. A related species found in southeastern Imperial County, California, and adjacent Sonora. Type 

 locality: Adair Bay, Sonora. 



5. BERNARDIA Houst. ex P. Br. Nat. Hist. Jamaica 361. 1756. 



Monoecious or dioecious shrubs with alternate stipulate leaves. Staniinate inflo- 

 rescence in axillary racemes, the flowers usually bracteate ; stamens distinct on a receptacle, 

 anther-cells distinct. Pistillate flowers few, clustered on the ends of branches or axillary. 

 Sepals 4-6. Ovary 3-celled, ovules solitary in each cell, disk or glands present ; stigmas 

 short, entire or laciniate. Capsule dehiscent. Seeds ecarunculate. [Name in honor of 

 P. F. Bernard, French botanist.] 



About 40 species of American tropical and subtropical regions. Type species: Bernardia carpinifolia Griseb. 



1. Bernardia incana C. V. Morton. Western Bernardia. Fig. 3026. 



Bernardia incana C. V. Morton, Journ. Wash. Acad. 29: 376. 1939. 



Dioecious much-branched shrub, 1-3 m. high, with glabrous branches and tomentulose branch- 

 lets. Leaves thick, crenate or crenate-dentate, 1-2.5 cm. long, short petiolate, densely short stel- 

 late-pubescent beneath, less dense above ; stipules thick, lanceolate ; staminate inflorescence slen- 

 der, axillary, bracteate, 1-1.5 cm. long, the flowers in fascicles along the rachis ; staminate 

 flowers 1 mm. long or less, the sepals 3, stellate-pubescent, pedicels slender, sometimes glabrous ; 

 stamens 5-8; pistillate flowers sessile, 1-2 mm. long, bracteate, terminal, solitary^ or clustered, 

 stellate-pubescent throughout ; sepals 5 ; ovary 3-celled, 3-lobed ; stigmas short, thick, lacmiate ; 

 capsule 7-9 mm. long, occasionally with but 1 or 2 cells developing; seeds about 5 mm. long, 

 carinate. 



Rocky desert canyons. Lower Sonoran Zone; San Bernardino County, California, south to Lower California 

 and east to Arizona. Type locality: Sierra Tucson, Arizona. May-June. 



Mercurialis Snnua L. Sp. PI. 1035. 1753. Glabrous annual with opposite serrate leaves and monoecious 

 flowers, the staminate in interrupted spikes, the pistillate axillary below the staminate; capsule 2-celled, 1-seeded. 

 Growing spontaneously in western part of San Mateo County, California. 



6. ACALYPHA L. Sp. PI. 1003. 1753. 



Monoecious, rarely dioecious herbs or shrubs with alternate stipulate leaves. Flowers 

 in spikes or spike-like racemes. Staminate flowers bracteate, in glomerules on slender 

 spikes. Sepals 4, valvate. Stamens 8 or more, anther-cells distinct. Pistillate flowers in 

 spikes or at base of staminate spikes, bracteate. Sepals 3-5. Ovary 3-celled, with 1 ovule 

 in each cell. Styles free or somewhat united at the base, usually laciniately divided. Cap- 

 sule 3-celled, dehiscent. Seeds subglobose. [Name Greek, meaning nettle.] 



About 400 species in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Type species, Acalypha virginica L. 



1. Acalypha calif ornica Benth. California Acalypha. Fig. 3027. 



Acalypha californica Benth. Bot. Sulph. 51. 184. 



Low monoecious, apetalous shrub, 1.5-4 dm. high with slender branches. Leaves petiolate. 

 ovate or deltoid with crenate margins, greenish, sparsely or densely pubescent with simple hairs, 

 glandular; staminate inflorescence spicate, 1.5-2.5 cm. long, the flowers in clusters along axis 

 subtended by toothed bracts; staminate flowers 0.5 mm. or less in diameter; staminate sepals 4 ; 

 stamens 3 on a raised receptacle, anther-cells slender, distinct; pistillate flowers in short spike 

 or solitary at base of staminate inflorescence ; flowers surpassed by cup-shaped crenate bracts with 

 tack-shaped marginal glands ; sepals flliform ; ovary pubescent, 1 mm. long ; styles 3, usually red- 

 dish, filiform, much-branched, 3 mm. long ; capsule pubescent, 2-3 mm. long. 



Dry canyons and washes, Lower Sonoran Zone; San Diego County, California, south to Lower California 

 and east to Sonora. Type locality: Magdalena Bay, Lower California. Feb.-Oct. 



7. TRAgIA L. Sp. PI. 980. 1753. 



Perennial monoecious, rarelv dioecious herbs or vines with alternate stipulate leaves, 

 usually with stinging hairs. Inflorescence racemose, bracteolate, staminate flowers above, 

 pistillate below. Flowers in ours with jointed pedicels, apetalous. Staminate flowers with 



