424 EUPHORBIACEAE 



Seeds round on back, flattish on face, very smooth ; glands 2-tootlied or -horned on 



the outer margin 9. E. eremica. 



Perennials; leaf -blades orbicular to round-ovate or oblong; seeds usually smooth. 



Stipules of the contiguous leaf -pairs united into a conspicuous white-membranous triangular 



scale ; glands orange or brownish 10. E. alhomarginata. 



Stipules distinct, sliort-triangular to lanceolate, ciliate, minute; glands dark purple (some- 

 times yellow). 



Herbage glabrous or minutely hirsutulous ; leaves green or reddish 11. E, polycarpa. 



Herbage densely pubescent, the leaves pale or whitish. 



Gland-appendages non-ciliate ; leaves usually 1 to 3 lines long....l2. E. melanadenia. 

 Gland-appendages ciliate; leaves 2i^ to 4 lines long 13. E. vallis-mortae. 



B. Leaves mostly alternate, mostly not oblique at base ; glands 5 or 4 ; plants 



NEVER prostrate. 



Glands of the involucre with a colored membranous appendage; pedicels of the flowers with a 

 minute scale at base; leaf -blades round-obovate, entire; shrub. — Subgenus Tkicho- 



STERiGMA 14, E. misera. 



Glands of the involucre without an appendage ; herbs, the stems erect or ascending. 



Leaf -blades linear, entire or nearly so ; involucres in terminal head-like clusters ; stipules 

 gland-like, minute; glands cup-shaped; annual or biennial. — Subgenus Poinsettia.. 



15. E. eriantha. 

 Leaf -blades ovate, obovate or rotund, never linear; involucres in dichotomous or often um- 

 bellate cymes ; stipules none. — Subgenus Tithymalus. 



Glands discoid, entire; capsule with warty lobes; leaves serrulate; annual 



16. E. dictyosperma. 

 Glands not entire, variously denticulate, lacerate, or horned ; leaves entire. 

 Annual (sometimes biennial). 



Capsule smooth ; stem leaves sessile or nearly so 17. E. crenulata. 



Capsule crested; stem leaves petiolate 18. E. peplus. 



Perennial ; capsule smooth. 



Glands rather longer than broad, 2-homed; leaves strongly obtuse 



19. E. palmeri. 

 Glands often much broader than long, a little lacerate, not horned ; leaves cuspi- 

 date, often acute 20. E. schizoloha. 



1. E. nutans Lag. Large Spurge. Stems simple below or branched from the 

 base, erect or ascending, 9 to 14 inches high; herbage glabrous or scantily pilose; 

 leaf -blades broadly oblong, slightly cordate at base, serrulate, often reddish, or 

 red-spotted, 5 to 12 lines long; stipules triangular, entire or somewhat lacerate; 

 involucres in a small terminal panicle of cymes; involucres red-brown; glands 

 small, their margins white or red, entire; capsule glabrous, obtusely angled; seeds 

 ashy black, obtusely angled, with 2 or 3 broken transverse ridges. 



Hill country, 200 to 1300 feet : Sierra Nevada foothills from Butte Co. to Placer 

 Co. East to the Atlantic, south to Mexico. Sept. 



Locs. — Auburn, Amundsen; Big Chico Creek, Heller 11,139. 



Eefs. — Euphorbia nutans Lag. Gen. et Sp. PI. Nov. 17 (1816), type from "Nova Hispania". 

 E. preslii Guss. Fl. Sic. Prod. 1:539 (1827) ; Jepson, Man. 599 (1925). E. hypericifoUa Gray, 

 Man. 407 (1848) ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 262 (1901), ed. 2, 246 (1911) ; not E. hypericifolia L. 

 (1753). Chamaesyce nutans Small, Fl. Se. U. S. 712 (1903). C. preslii Arthur, Torreya 11:260 

 (1911). 



2. E. serpyllifolia Pers. Thyme-leaf Spurge. Stems round, or more or less 

 angled, repeatedly branched, forming prostrate mats 1 to 3 feet across; herbage 

 glabrous and green; leaf -blades oblong-elliptic or obovate-spatulate, more or less 

 minutely serrate toward the apex or subentire, 2 to 3 lines long; stipules setaceous 

 or lacerate; involucres campanulate, solitary or in loose clusters, % line long or 

 less; glands transversely oblong and more or less cupped in the center, the wing 

 white, narrow, crenately serrate or nearly entire; capsules smooth, the lobes cari- 

 nate; seeds clay- white, sharply quadrangular, smoothish, rugulose or rugose-pitted, 

 grayish-white or tan, slightly over i/^ line long. 



Valleys and plains, 10 to 6000 feet : throughout California. North to British 

 Columbia, east to Minnesota and Texas, south to Mexico. June-Dec. 



