EUPHORBIACE^. (sPURGE FAMILY.) 407 



7. CROTON, L. 



Flowers monoecious, in spilces or racemes. Calyx of tiic 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 wantmg. 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 wost/y 12 : capsule 



^■celled 



1. C. maritinaum, Walt Herbaceous ; whole plant covered with a rough 

 scurfy 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-oI)tuse 

 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 : petals of the sterile Jlowers 5-6, 

 of the fertile none : stamens 8 - 1 .5 : capsule 3-celled. 



2. C. balsamiferum, Willd. Shrubby ; stem smooth, whitish ; branches 

 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 1.5; capsule much longer than the 

 calyx; seed ovoid, smooth. — South Florida. — Shrub l°-2° high. Leaves 

 thin, I'-l^' long. 



3. C. EUiottii. 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 l^'-2' long. 



4. C. argyranthemum, Michx. Herbaceous, perennial, covered through- 

 out with stellate silvery scales ; stem erect, umbellately 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, 

 4-cleft at the apex ; capsule much longer than the calyx — Dry sandy pine 



