150 SPURGE FAMILY 



1. L. lewisii Pursh. Blue Flax. Perennial plant with sev- 

 eral stems from a woody base, 1 to 2^ ft. high. Leaves 

 alternate, linear, acute, entire, 54 to 1 in. long. Corolla blue, 

 l / 2 to 1 in. across, pediceled. 



The conspicuous blue flowers of this flax, borne on stiffly 

 erect leafy stems, may be seen in open places at nearly all 

 altitudes, but the species is nowhere abundant. While resem- 

 bling the cultivated flax from which linen fiber and linseed 

 oil are made, it grows from a perennial instead of an annual 

 root. The fiber, although strong, is not present in sufficient 

 quantity for commercial purposes. 



2. L. digynum Gray. Annual plant with erect stem simple 

 below, l / 2 to 1 ft. high. Leaves opposite, elliptic, J / 2 in. or less 

 long, the upper sometimes toothed. Corolla yellow, less 

 than J4 m - across, short-pediceled. — A small-flowered annual, 

 found in rather dry meadows of moderate altitudes, as at the 

 Hog Ranch and near the Yosemite. 



3. L. micranthum Gray. Stem solitary, from an annual 

 root, freely branched above, l / 2 to V/ 2 ft. high. Leaves linear, 

 obtuse, % to Y$ in. long. Flowers white or pinkish, numerous, 

 less than ^ in. across, slender-pediceled. — Reported from near 

 Yosemite Valley. 



EUPHORBIACEAE. Spurge Family. 

 Represented with us by only two genera of homely herbs 

 with simple leaves and inconspicuous flowers without petals. 

 Ovary superior, 3 or 1-celled. 



Capsule 1-celled; herbage densely pubescent 1. Eremocarpus. 



Capsule 3-celled; herbage glabrous 2. Euphorbia. 



1. EREMOCARPUS. 

 1. E. setigerus Benth. Turkey Mullein. A low branched 

 annual, forming leafy mats 1 or 2 ft. wide, densely stiff- 

 hairy throughout. Leaves alternate, or the upper opposite, 

 thick, ovate, 54 to W m - long. Flowers minute; the pistillate 

 in the lower axils, without calyx; the staminate in terminal 

 clusters, with calyx. — Dry places in the foothills, reaching El 

 Portal and Hetch Hetchy Valley. 



2. EUPHORBIA. Spurge. 

 Ours glabrous herbs with staminate and pistillate flowers 

 on the same plant, each flower surrounded by a calyx-like 

 involucre. Capsule slender-pediceled, 3-celled, each cell 1- 

 seeded. 



