408 EUPHORBIACEJE. (SPURGE FAMILY.) 
like cut-lobed persistent bract. (’A/coX^^, an ancient name of the 
Nettle.) 
1. A. Vi rg mica, L. Leaves ovate or oblong-ovate , obtusely ser¬ 
rate, long-petiolcd ; sterile spike rather few-flowered, mostly shorter 
than the deeply palmately-cleft fruiting bracts. — Fields and open pla¬ 
ces, common. Aug. — A homely weed, 1° - 2? high, smoothish or 
rather hairy, often purplish in autumn. Fertile flowers 1-3 in each 
axil, with the small and short-peduncled sterile spike: bracts very 
large and leaf-like, unequally cut into 5-9 lanceolate lobes. 
2. A. gr&cilens. Leaves lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate, or lin¬ 
ear, obscurely serrate, short-petioled, mostly obtuse ; sterile spike long 
and slender, much longer than the cut-toothed bract. — Sandy dry 
soil, New Jersey, and common southward. — A somewhat downy 
plant, 6'-12' high; the heart-ovate fruiting bract sharply cut-toothed 
or barely cleft at the sides; the sterile spike frequently l 7 long and 
half the length of the leaves. 
A. Caroliniana, Walt., not of Michx. (A. ostrysefblia, Riddell?), 
is entirely a Southern and peculiar species. 
A. PILINOPIIYTUM, Kl. (Croton, Michx., partly.) 
Flowers moncecious, in capitate clusters or short terminal spikes, 
which are sterile above and fertile below. Sterile flowers with a 
5-parted calyx, 5 petals alternate with 5 glands, and about 12 dis¬ 
tinct stamens. Fertile flowers with an unequally 8-parted calyx 
and a 3-eelled ovary : styles 3, several times cleft. Pod separat¬ 
ing into 3 two-valved carpels. — Branching upright annuals woolly 
all over with whitish starry hairs (whence the name, from nihivos, 
made of felt , and <j>vr6v , plant) ; the leaves alternate and long-pe- 
tioled. 
1- P* capitatum, Kl. Leaves oval-oblong or narrowly ob- 
long, obtuse at both ends, silvery-woolly underneath, mostly entire , 
fertile flowers numerous, forming a close head in fruit. (Croton ca 
pitatum, Michx.) — Dry barrens, New Jersey, Knieskem ■ Common in 
Kentucky and westward : nearly 1° high, stout. 
5. CROTONOPSIS, Michx. Crotonopsis. 
Flowers moncecious, axillary and terminal, solitary, the lower 
fertile. Calyx 5-parted. Sterile flowers with 5 petals and 5 sta 
mens: filaments distinct, enlarged at the apex. Fertile flowers 
with 5 petal-like scales opposite the sepals, and a 1-celled 1 -ovuled 
ovary: stigmas 3, 2-lobed. Fruit dry and indehiscent, small , 
