542 EUPHORBIACEAE 



r 



inate flowers uppermost. Sepals 4-6, usually 5. Petals usually present, but 

 often small, alternating with the glands. Stamens 5 or more, inflexed in bud. 

 Pistillate flowers below the staminate ones. Sepals 5-10. Petals usually want- 

 ing. Ovary 3-celled ; ovules solitary in each cell; stigmas once, twice, or thrice 2- 



cleft. Capsule mostly splitting into three 2-valved carpels. Seeds smooth or 

 minutely pitted. 



Annual; leaf-blades Unear, lanceolate, or oblong, 3-5 times as long as the petioles. 



Perennial; leaf-blades elliptic or oval, only a little longer than the petioles.^' ^ '''■'*'"*"• 



, 2. C longipes. 



A }a ?' *f?«^sis (Klotzsch) Muell. Arg. Lepidote, dioecious annual; stem 



dm. high, di- or trirchotomously branched; the staminate plant usually 

 more slender than the pistillate one and with narrower leaves; leaf-blades Hnear, 

 lanceolate, or oblong, 4-12 cm. long, entire; staminate racemes 1-3 cm. long; 

 sepals oblong to ovate-oblong; stamens 8-12; pistillate flowers 2-4 together or 

 soIitary;_ sepals triangular; capsule globose or oval, 4-6 mm. long, warty. Plains 

 and prairies: lU.— Ala.— Tex.— Ariz.— Wyo.; Mex. Plain. My-Au. 



2. C. longipes M. E. Jones. Perennial, woody at the base, 3-6 dm. high, 

 white, lepidote-steUate; leaf-blades 2-3 cm. long, densely stellate beneath, 

 sparingly so or glabrate above; staminate flowers 2 mm. wide; pistillate ones 6 

 mm wide; sepals in both triangular; capsule globose, densely stellate. Sand: 

 Utah— Nev. Son.—Submont. Ap-My. 



2. DITAXIS Vahl. 



Monoecious or rarely dioeciou,s herbs or shrubs, often with rootstocks. 

 l^eaves alternate, silky or pilose, entire or rarely toothed, often strongly veined. 

 !• lowers in axillary and terminal clusters, usually bracted. Staminate flowers 

 usually crowded at the ends of the racemes. Sepals 4 or 5, valvate. Petals 4 or 

 5. btamens of the same number, or twice or thrice as many; filaments united 

 into a column Pistillate flowers with imbricate sepals and rudimentary petals. 



VT'^k^^ ?*^^ ' ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^''*^ ^ solitary ovule. Styles 3, 2-cleft. Capsule 

 rf-lobed depressed separating into three 2-valved carpels. Seeds subglobose, 

 wrinkled or crested. 



1. D. humilis (Engelm. & Gray) Pax. Perennial, with a woody root and 

 caudex; stems much branched, pubescent, spreading, 1-3 dm. long; leaf-blades 

 ovate, oblong or oblanceolate, 1-3 cm. long, entire; capsule short-pedicelled, 

 depressed 4-6 mm. m diameter; seeds oval-globose, 2 mm. long, muricate. 

 Prairies: Kans.— La.— Tex.— N.M. Son. My-0 



3. TRAGIA (Plum.) L. 



armed 



„ -..^^xv^v.v.v^«o ijciuo, ui amuus, usually armed witn stm, stinging 



hairs. Leaves alternate, entire, toothed, or lobed, mostly cordate, petioled. 

 t lowers in racemes or spicate racemes, bracteolate, apetalous. Stammate flow- 



stamens. Pistillate flowers with 3-8 sepals. 



Ovary 3-celled; oi^les soLtary. Styles 3. often united to above the middle. 

 <^apsule 3-lobed, separating into three 2-vaIved carpels. Seeds subglobose. 



ramosa 



i. n r: o J u • ,. Light green perennial, with a woody caudex, hispid ; 



stem 5-6 dm high, usually much branched; leaf-blades lanceolate to triangular- 

 lanceolate, 1-5 cm. long, coarsely and sharply serrate; staminate flowers with 



by a 3-lobed bract; capsuk depressed, 6-8 mm. thick, orange, more or less varie- 

 gated. Dry soil: Mo.— Tex.-Ariz.-Colo. Son.-Submonl Ai^-Au. 



4. CEAMAESYCE S. F. Gray. Spurge, Carpet-weed. 



Annual or perennial herbs, or in the tropics shrubs. Stems often radially 

 branched at the base, ascending or prostrate, forking. Leaves opposite, entire 

 or toothed, naore or less obhque at the base; stipules dehcate, entire or fringed. 

 Involucres sohtary in the axils or in axillary cjTnes. Glands 4. sessile or stalked, 



