SPURGE FAMILY 



421 



1. A. califomica Benth. Low shrub; herbage puberulent, the leaves a little 

 glandular; leaf -blades ovate-cordate, 3 to 10 inches long, short-petioled ; spikes 

 peduncled, the staminate 4 to 10 lines long, about 1 line broad, the pistillate 2 to 

 3 lines long. 



Dry hills, 1000 to 4500 feet : San Diego Co. South to Lower California. June. 



Locs.— Ramona, T. Brandegee; Poway, Parish 4430; Lakeside, T. Brandegee ; San Diego, 

 McClatchie ; Jamul, Hall. 



Eefs. — AcALYPHA CALIFORNICA Benth. Bot. Sulph. 51 (1844), type loc. Magdalena Bay, L. 

 Cal., Hinds; Jepson, Man. 597 (1925). Bicinocarpus calif ornicus Ktze. Rev. Gen. PI. 2:617 

 (1891). 



8. RICINUS L. 



Herb or shrub. Leaves large, the blades peltate, palmately lobed. Flowers 

 monoecious, in terminal racemes, the upper flowers pistillate, the lower staminate. 



Stamens many, the anthers erect in the bud; 

 \ ^H^ (^ filaments much branched, each with many 



anthers. Styles 3, united at base, plumose, red. 

 Capsule large, bur-like, 3-lobed; seeds 3, with 

 large caruncle. — Species 1. (Latin name, the 

 seeds resembling ticks.) 



1. R. communis L. Castor Bean. Shrub 

 3 to 8 feet high; leaf -blades 7 to 11-cleft, 1/2 to 

 1 (or 2) feet wide. 



Native of Africa, widely distributed through 

 introduction in all warm regions, with us cul- 

 tivated and locally naturalized : coastal South- 

 ern California. July-Oct. 



Locs. — Anaheim, Parish 1599; Los Angeles (Ery- 

 thea 1:100). 



Refs.— RiciNUS COMMUNIS L. Sp. PI. 1007 (1753), 

 East and West Indies, Afr., s. Eur.; Jepson, Man. 597 

 (1925). 



9. STILLINGIA L. 



Glabrous herbs. Flowers monoecious, dis- 

 posed in spikes which are pistillate at base. 

 Bracts conspicuously biglandular, the glands 

 trumpet-shaped or saucer-shaped and pedicel- 

 late. Calyx imbricate in the bud. Staminate 

 calyx thin or scarious, in ours 2-parted; sta- 

 mens in ours 2; anthers erect in the bud. Pistillate calyx in ours none; ovary 

 3-celled, each cell 1-ovuled; styles 3, nearly distinct, simple. Capsule-lobes break- 

 ing away from a 3-horned base. Seeds usually carunculate. — Species about 15, 

 North and South America, and Pacific Ocean islands. (Benj. Stillingfleet, 1702- 

 1771, London student of the ancient Greek plants.) 



Leaves narrowly linear-lanceolate, entire or nearly so ; central column of capsule persistent ; stems 



tall, rush-like 1. S. linearifolia. 



Leaves ovate, pectinately serrate ; central column of capsule none ; stems short, very leafy 



2. S. spimilosa. 



1. S. linearifolia Wats. (Fig. 219.) Rush-like perennial with a tuft of slen- 

 der stems 3 feet high ; leaf -blades narrowly linear-lanceolate, entire, 1 to lYz inches 

 long; spikes mostly terminal. 



Sandy mesas, dry hills and plains, 1000 to 2500 feet : Colorado Desert; interior 

 of cismontane Southern California. Apr.-May. 



Fig. 

 Wats, 

 staminate fl 



219. Stillixgia linearifolia 



a, flowering branch, X V2', ^> 



c, pistillate fl, X 3. 



X 8; 



