460 EUPHORBIACE^. (sPURGE FAMILY.) 



* * Fruit echinate with soft bristli/ green projections ; seeds rough-wrinkled. 



2. A. Caroliniana, Ell. Leaves thin, ovate-cordate, sharply and closely 

 ^serrate-toothed, abruptly acuminate, long-petioled ; sterile spikes short, axil- 

 lary ; the fertile ones mostly terminal and elongated, their bracts deeply cut 

 into many linear lobes. — N. J. to Fla., west to Ohio, Kan., and Tex. 



9. RICINUS, Linn. Castor-oil Plant. 



Flowers in racemose or panicled clusters, the fertile above, the staminate 

 below. Calyx 5-parted. Stamens very numerous, with repeatedly branching 

 tilameuts. Styles 3, united at base, each bifid, red. Capsule large, 3-lobed, 

 with 3 large seeds. — A tall stately annual, with very large alternate peltate 

 and palmately 7 - 11-cleft leaves (often 1-2° broad). {The ancient Koman 

 name of the plant.) 



R. COMMUNIS, L. — Cultivated extensively for ornament, and sparingly es^ 

 caped in Md., Mo., and southward. Very variable. 



10. TRAGI A, Plumier. 



Flowers monoecious, in racemes, apetalous. Ster. Fl. Calyx 3-5- (chiefly 

 3-) parted, valvate in the bud. Stamens 2 or 3 ; filaments short ; anther-cells 

 united. Fert. Fl. Calyx 3 - 8-parted, persistent. Style 3-cleft or 3-parted ; 

 the branches 3, simple. Capsule 3-celled, 3-lobed, bristly, separating into three 

 2-valved 1-seeded carpels. Seeds not carunculate. — Erect or climbing plants 

 (perennial herbs in U. S.), pubescent or hispid, sometimes stinging, with mostly 

 alternate stipulate leaves; the small-flowered racemes terminal or opposite 

 the leaves ; the sterile flowers above, the few fertile at the base, all with small 

 bracts. (Named for the early herbalist Bock, latinized Tragus.) 



1. T. innocua, Walt, ^rec^, paniculate-branched, so/?"/// //a?V^-/>u6escenf 

 (6- 12' high) ; leaves varying from obovate-oblong to narrowly linear, acute at 

 base, obtusely or sinuately few-toothed or lobed, sometimes entire, short-petioled 

 or sessile, paler beneath ; sterile calyx usually 4-parted ; stamens 2. (T. urens, /..) 

 — Dry sandy soil, E. Va. to Fla. and La. May- Aug. — Not stinging. 



2. T. nepetaefolia, Cav. Erect or reclining or slightly twining, hirsute 

 with stinging hairs ; leaves ovate-lanceolate or triangular-lanceolate, or the lower 

 ovate, all somewhat cordate or truncate at base, coarsely cut-toothed, short-peti- 

 oled ; sterile calvx usually 3-parted and stamens 3. (T. urticaefolia, Michx.) 

 — Virginia {Pursh), and common southward to Fla. and Tex., Mo., Kan., and 

 westward. — T. stvlXris, Muell., of the southwest, which is reported from 

 Kan., may be distinguished by its 4 -5-parted sterile calyx, 4-5 stamens, and 

 ?longated styles. 



3. T. macrocarpa, Willd. Twining, somewhat hirsute; leaves deej>ly 

 cordate, ovate, mostly narrowly acuminate, sharply serrate (3 - 5' long), all but 

 the uppermost long-petioled ; pod ^' broad. (T. cordata, Michx.) — Ky. to 

 Ga., Fla.; and La. 



n. STILLiNGIA, Garden. 



Flowers monoecious, aggregated in a terminal spike. Petals and glands of 

 the disk none. Calyx 2 - 3-cleft or parted ; the divisions imbricated in the bud. 

 Stamens 2 or 3 ; anthers adnate, turned outward. Style thick ; stigmas 3, 



