310 EUPHORBIACE^. 



Ovary free, 3 — 9 -celled ; style 1 ; stigma radiating. Fruit 

 fleshy, seated in the persistent perianth, with 3 — 9 bony nu- 

 cules. — Small arid shrubs, with heath-like evergreen leaves and 

 minute flowers in their axils. 



1. EMPETRUM. Z/mw.— Crowberry, 

 (From the Greek ev, an, and ncTpoi, a stone ; in allusion to its place of growth-) 



Dioecious. Perianth consisting of two rows of scales. Ste- 

 rile Fl. Stamens 3, upon long filaments. Fertile Fl. Sta- 

 mens none. Style none, or very short. Stigma with 6 — 9 

 rays. Fruit globose, with 6 — 9 nucules. 



E. nigrum Mich. : procumbent ; leaves linear-oblong, revolute on the 

 margin. 



White Hills, N. H. Big. Summits of the high mountains in Essex county, 

 N. Y. Torr. Shores of Lake Superior. Houghton. N. to Arct. Amer. May, 

 June. — A low shrub with small and dense evergreen foliage, like that of the 

 heaths. Leaves imbricate, oblong, obtuse. Flowers axillary, very small, red- 

 dish. Berry roundish, black. Common Crowberry. 



2. OAKESIA. Tuckerm.—OakesieL. 

 (In honor of William Oakes, Esq., of Ipswich, Mass., a well known botanist.; 



Mostly dicecious. Staminate Fl. Perianth of 5 — 6 leafets, 

 the 2 innermost ones somewhat petaloid and often united on 

 one side. Stamens mostly 3, (sometimes 4 or 5,) exserted. 

 Ovary wanting or mostly abortive. Fertile Fl. Perianth 

 nearly as in the sterile. Disk none. Ovary 3 — 4-celled ; style 

 filiform, 3 — 4-cleft. Fruit dry and dnipaceous, globose, mi- 

 nute. 



O. Conradi Tuckerm. 



Dry sandy woods. Long Island, N. Y. July, Aug. — A very branching shrub 

 forming dense circular patches; the branches somewhat verticUlate, with a 

 grayish bark. Leaves coriaceous, narrow-linear, bright green, somewhat hispid 

 when young, smooth when old, margin revolute. Heads of flowers furnished 

 with several small concave bracts. Perianth purplish-brown, the leafets ob- 

 long or obovate. Fruit about the size of a mustard-seed. ( Torr. N. Y. Fl.) 



Conrad's Oakesia 



Order CX. EUPHORBIACE^.— Spurgeworts. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Perianth inferior, -^th va- 

 rious glandular or scaly appendages, (sometimes wanting). Ste- 

 rile Fl. Stamens 1 or many ; anthers 2-celled. Fertile Fl. 

 Ovary free, sessile or stalked ; styles 2 — 3 ; stigmas compound 

 or single with several lobes. Fruit consisting of 2 — 3 dehis- 

 cent cells, separating with elasticity from their common axis. 



