EUPHORBIACE^. (SPURGE FAMILY.) 409 



calyx -lobes lanceolate, acute ; petals greenish-white; capsule i-ough-hairy; seed 

 globose, wrinkled. — South Florida. — Shrub l°-2° high. Leaves l'-2' long. 



10. CNIDOSCOLUS, Pohl. 



Flowers monoecious, apetalous, cymose. Calyx corolla-like. Calyx of the 

 sterile flower salver-shaped, 5-lobed. Stamens 10, the 5 inner ones with mona- 

 delphous filaments. Fertile flowers intermingled with the sterile ones. Calyx 

 of 5 sepals, convolute in the bud. Styles 3, many-parted. Capsule of three 

 1-celled, 1-seeded, 2-valved carpels. — Herbs or shrubs, with alternate leaves, and 

 white flowers. 



1. C. Stimulosus, Gray. Herbaceous, bristly witli stinging hairs; stem 

 erect, simple or branched ; leaves long-petioled, round-cordate in outline, pal- 

 mately 3 - 5-lobed or parted, the divisions toothed, pinnatifid, or somewhat 

 bipinnatifid, often discolored ; calyx showy ; capsule oblong ; seed oblong, 

 smooth, spotted. (latropha stimulosa, il/tcAo;.) — Dry pine barrens, Florida to 

 North Carolina. April - Sept. 1]. — Stem ^° - 2° high. Flowers sometimes 

 dioecious. 



11. RICINUS, Tourn. Castor-oil Plawt. 



Flowers monoecious, apetalous, in a dense oblong panicle, the upper ones 

 fertile. Calyx 3 - 5-parted. Corolla none. Stamens numerous ; the filaments 

 much branched : anther-cells distinct, pendulous. Styles 3, 2-parted. Capsule 

 spiny or bristly, of 3 oblong 1 -celled, 1-seeded, 2-valved carpels. — Herbs, or 

 (tropical) shrubs or trees, with petioled peltate lobed leaves. Panicles lateral 

 and terminal. 



1. R. communis, L. Stem large, glaucous ; leaves orbicular in outline, 

 palmately 7-9-lobed ; the lobes oblong or ovate, acuminate, unequally serrate, 

 smooth ; petioles glandular ; panicles in the forks of the stem, and opposite the 

 leaves, dense, glaucpus. Capsules oblong, spiny. — Waste places. Introduced. 

 June -Oct. Q) — Stem 3°- 10° high. Leaves 1° in diameter. Stipules large, 

 deciduous. Panicle 6'- 12' long. 



12. PHYLLANTHUS, Swartz. 



Flowers moncecious, apetalous, axillary. Calyx 5 - 6-parted. Stamens 3, 

 monadelphous. Glands 5-6. Ovary 3-celled, with two ovules in each cell. 

 Styles 3, 2-clcft. Capsule globose, of three 1 -celled, 2-seeded, 2-valved carpels. 

 — Smooth herbs, with 2-ranked leaves and branches. Flowers small, greenish. 



1. P. Carolinensis, "Walt. Annual; branches erect-spreading; leaves 

 oblong, oval, or obovate, entire, short-petioled ; flowers mostly by pairs, one 

 sterile, the other fertile, on short nodding pedicels ; calyx G-partod, the lobes 

 oblong, obtuse, strongly 1 -nerved, membranous on the margins ; capsule smooth ; 

 seed semicircular, 3-angled, striped with lines of minute raised points — Low 

 ground, Florida, and northward. Aug. - Sept. — Stem 8'- 16' high. Leaves 

 ^' - 1 ' long. 



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