EUPHORBIACEJ. (SPURGE FAMILY.) 407 
7. CROTON, L. 
Flowers monecious, in spikes or racemes. Calyx of the sterile flowers 4 — 6- 
cleft or 4 — 6-parted. Petals 4 —6 (wanting in No. 1). Stamens 5 - 20, distinct : 
anthers erect, introrse. Glands as many as the calyx-lobes and opposite them. 
Fertile flowers at the base of the sterile spike. Calyx 5- 8-cleft or 5 -8-parted. 
Petals minute or wanting. Styles 2-3, once-thrice 2-cleft. Capsule of 3 
(rarely 1 - 2)-1-celled, 1-seeded, 2-valved carpels. Glands as many as the calyx- 
lobes or none. — Herbs or shrubs, with watery juice, stellate pubescence, and 
alternate petioled leaves. Flowers terminal, and at the divisions of the stem. 
_* Styles very short: stigmas 18 - 20: petals none: stamens mostly 12: capsule 
8-celled. 
1. C. maritimum, Walt Herbaceous ; whole plant covered with a rough 
. seurfy stellate and somewhat hoary pubescence ; stem stout, bushy, umbellately 
branched ; leaves thick, long-petioled, ovate, obtuse, entire, rounded or slightly 
cordate at the base, hoary beneath ; spikes long-peduncled, capitate, few-flowered, 
the sterile and fertile ones mostly separate; calyx 5-cleft, with ovate-obtuse 
lobes ; capsule much longer than the calyx; seeds ovoid, mottled. — Drifting 
sands along the coast, Florida to North Carolina. July — Oct.— Stem 2°- 3° 
high. Leaves 2'-3'long. Flowers occasionally polygamous. 
* * Styles 3, twice 2-parted or 2-cleft: stigmas 12: reo amies igure 6, 
of the fertile none: stamens 8 — 15: capsule 3-celled. — — y 
9. C. balsamiferum, Willd. Shrubby; stem smooth, whitish ; rais 
stellate-pubescent, roughish; leaves slender-petioled, ovate, acute, crenulate, 
sprinkled with rigid stellate hairs, hoary when young; spikes woolly, at length 
elongated; sterile flowers numerous, the fertile ones few ; calyx of the sterile 
flower 5-parted, longer than the woolly-margined petals ; style twice 2-parted ; 
the divisions long, filiform; stamens about 15; capsule much longer than the 
calyx; seed ovoid, smooth.— South Florida.— Shrub 19-29 high. Leaves 
thin, 1'- 1}' long. 
3. C. Elliottii. Annual, stellate-tomentose throughout; stem slender, 
erect, umbellately much branched ; leaves short-petioled, lanceolate or oblong, 
entire, obtuse at each end, green above, pale beneath, the lowest scattered, the 
others mostly crowded at the divisions of the stem and summit of the branches ; 
sterile flowers few, minute; calyx 5-parted, unequal, longer than the petals ; 
stamens 8 - 10; fertile flowers several, clustered ; calyx 5— 8-parted, with oblong 
obtuse lobes, as long as the capsule; style twice 2-parted: seeds oval, smooth, - 
flattened on the inner face. (C. ellipticum, Ell.) — Pine barrens, Florida to 
South Carolina. July-Sept.— Stem 2°-3° high. Leaves 13! - 2' long. 
4. C. argyranthemum, Michx. Herbaceous, perennial, covered through- 
out with stellate silvery scales; stem erect, umbgllately branched ; leaves obo- 
vate or oblong, obtuse, entire, silvery beneath, narrowed into a petiole ; racemes 
— Sessile, oblong, obtuse ; the fertile flowers numerous and crowded ; calyx 5-6- 
. parted, with the lobes acute; stamens 10-12, hairy; styles long and slender, : 
cleft at mo om much — the calyx. pu anc my 
