366 EUPHORBIACEAE. [Von. I. 
2. Acalypha Virginica L. 
Virginia Three-seeded Mercury. 
(Fig. 2298.) 
Acalypha Virginica 1,. Sp. Pl. 1003. 1753. 
Dark green or becoming purplish, some- 
what pubescent. Stem erect or ascending, 
3/-2° tall; leaves ovate or elliptic, 10/’/-4’ 
long, thin, coarsely serrate except near the 
base; staminate and pistillate flowers in the 
same axillary clusters, the staminate spike 
peduncled, usually included in the large pal- 
mately lobed bract; pistillate flowers 1-3 
at the base of the staminate peduncle; cap- 
sule 3-lobed, subglobose, about 114’’ in 
diameter, smooth, sometimes slightly pubes- 
cent; seeds ovoid, reddish, striate. 
In woods and thickets, Ontario and Minne- 
sota, south to Florida and Texas. Occurs at 
3000 ft. in Georgia. Upper leaves commonly 
forming a flat-topped cluster. June-Oct. 
Acalypha gracilens A. Gray, Man. 408. 1848. 
Acalypha Virginica var. gracilens Muell. 
Arg. Linnaea, 34:45. 1865. 
Pale green, pubescent, often densely 
glandular. Stem slender, erect, 4/-2%4° 
tall, usually branched, the branches often 
nearly filiform, spreading or divergent; 
leaves lanceolate or linear-oblong, 5//—2/ 
long, usually firm, acutish, serrate, narrowed 
to a short petiole; staminate and pistillate 
flowers in the same axillary clusters; stami- 
nate spike very slender, usually exceeding 
the many-cleft bract; pistillate flowers 1 or 
several; capsule subglobose, about 1%4/’ in 
diameter; seeds globose-ovoid, dark red, or 
gray mottled with red, striate-pitted. 
In dry woods and thickets, Rhode sland to 
Kansas, Florida andyTexas. Occurs 2000 ft. 
in South Carolina. June-Sept. 
6. TRAGIA I. Sp. Pl. 980. 1753. 
Monoecious herbs, or shrubs, sometimes climbing, usually armed with stiff stinging hairs. 
Leaves alternate, toothed or somewhat lobed, mostly cordate, petioled; flowers in racemes, 
or spicate racemes, bracteolate, apetalous; staminate flowers with a 3-5-parted calyx and 1-3 
or rarely numerous stamens; pistillate flowers with a 3-S-lobed calyx, the segments entire or 
pinnatifid, a 3-celled ovary with 1 ovule in each cavity, and 3 styles, often united to above 
the middle; capsule 3-lobed, separating into 3 2-valved carpels; seeds subglobose; endosperm 
fleshy. [From Tragus, the Latin name of Hieronymus Bock, 1498-1553, a German botanist. } 
About 50 species, mostly natives of tropical regions. 
Stems not twining. 
Staminate calyx 4-lobed; stamens 2. 
Staminate calyx 3-lobed; stamens 3. 
Staminate calyx 4-5-lobed; stamens 4 or 5. 
Stems twining. 
T. urens. 
T. nepetaefolia. 
T. ramosa. 
T. macrocarpa. 
unr 
