^VPilOliBiACEM. (SPURGE FAMILY.) 457 



spikes along the base ; the iuterveuiug portion naked, or with a few small 

 scales. — Woods, mountains of Ky., W. Va., and southward. March- Mav. 



3. PHYLLANTHUS, L. 



Flowers mouojcious, axillary. Calyx usually 5-6-parted, imbricated in the 

 bud. Petals none. Stamens mostly 3, erect in the bud, often united. Ovules 

 2 in each cell of the ovary. Capsule depressed ; each carpel 2-valved, 2-seeded. 

 Seeds not carunculate. — Leaves alternate, 2-ranked, with small stipules. 

 (Name composed of (pvWov, leaf, and avOos, blossom, because the flowers in a 

 few species are borne upon leaf-like dilated branches.) 



1. P. Carolinensis, Walt. Annual, low and slender, branched; leaves 

 obovate or oval, short-petioled ; flowers commonly 2 in each axil, almost ses- 

 sile, one staminate, the other fertile ; calyx 6-parted ; stamens 3 ; styles 3, 

 each 2-cleft ; glands of the disk in the fertile flowers united in a cup. — Grav- 

 elly banks, E. Penn. to Fla., west to S. Ind. and 111. July - Sept. 



4. JATROPHA, L. 



Flowers monoecious, rarely dioecious, in a terminal open forking cyme ; the 

 fertile ones usually in the lower forks. Cal\x corolla-like, in the staminate 

 flowers often salver-shaped, 5-lobed ; in the pistillate, 5-parted, imbricated or 

 convolute in the bud. Corolla of 5 distinct or apparently united petals, or 

 none. Glands of the disk opposite the calyx-lobes. Stamens 10-30, in 2 or 

 more whorls ; filaments monadelphous at base. Ovary mostly 3-celled ; styles 

 3, united below, their summits once or twice forked. Capsule 3-celled, 

 3-seeded, separating into 3 two-valved carpels. Seed carunculate. — Peren- 

 nial herbaceous or shrubby plants, chiefly tropical, with alternate mostly 

 long-petioled palmately -veined leaves, and stipules. — Our species is of the 

 section Cnidoscolus, with apetalous flowers, the staminate corolla salver- 

 form, and the plants mostly armed with stinging bristles. (Xame said bv 

 Linnaeus to be formed of larphv, a reined tj, and (payw, to eat.) 



1. J. Stimulosa, ^lichx. (Tread-softly. Spurge-Xettle.) Herba- 

 ceous, from a long perennial root, branching (6' -2° high) ; leaves roundish- 

 heart-shaped, 3 - 5-lobed nearly to the base, on long petioles ; the divisions 

 entire or acutely toothed, cut, or even pinnatifid, often discolored ; flowers 

 white, fragrant, 9" long or more; filaments 10, monadelphous only at the 

 woolly base, or the outer set almost distinct. (J. urens, var. stimulosa. 

 J.Muell) — Dry sandy soil, Va. to Fla. and La. June -Sept. 



5. CROTON, L. 



Flowers mona'cious, rarely dioecious, mostly in terminal spike-like racemes 

 or spikes. Ster. Fl. Calyx 5- (rarely 4-6-) parted; the divisions lightly 

 imbricated or nearly valvate in the bud. Petals usually present, as many, 

 but mostly small or rudimentary, hypogynous. Glands or lobes of the disk 

 as many as and alternate with the petals. Receptacle usually hairy. Sta- 

 mens 5 or more ; filaments with the anthers inflexed in the bud. Fert. FL 

 Calyx 5- 10-cleft or parted, nearly as in the staminate flowers; but petals 

 none or minute rudiments. Ovary 3- (rarely 2-4-) celled, with a single ovule 

 in each cell ; styles as many, from once to thrice 2-cleft. Capsule separating 



