Vor. II] 
1g. Euphorbia Ipecacuanhae L,. Wild 
Ipecac. Ipecac Spurge. (Fig. 2325.) 
Euphorbia Ipecacuanhae \,. Sp. Pl. 455. 1753- 
Perennial by a deep perpendicular root, 
glabrous or pubescent. Stems several or many, 
slender, spreading, ascending or nearly erect, 
4-10’ long, branched; leaves green or red, 
wonderfully variable in outline from linear to 
orbicular, 5’/-3’ long, mostly opposite, entire, 
the upper sometimes whorled, the lower often 
alternate, short-petioled; involucres axillary, 
mostly hemispheric, nearly 1’’ long, slender- 
peduncled; bearing 5 transversely elliptic or 
oblong green sessile unappendaged glands; 
capsule 134’/’ in diameter, nodding; seeds 
light gray, oblong-ovoid or ovoid, 114’ long, 
pitted, obscurely 4-sided. 
In dry sandy soil, Connecticut to Florida, 
mostly near the coast. Alsoin southern Indiana. 
Anemetic. May-—Oct. 
21. Euphorbia Lathyris 1. Caper 
or Myrtle Spurge. (Fig. 2327.) 
Euphorbia Lathyris \. Sp. Pl. 457. 
Annual or biennnial, glabrous, stout, glau- 
cous. Stem usually erect, stout, 8’-3° tall, 
mostly simple below, umbellately branched 
above; leaves numerous, the lower scattered, 
those subtending the umbel verticillate, the 
lower linear, reflexed, the upper lanceolate or 
linear-lanceolate, 114/—-5’ long, entire, sessile, 
subcordate at the base; bracts opposite, ovate 
or ovate-lanceolate, truncate or subcordate; 
involucres 2%’’ long, bearing 4 crescent- 
shaped unappendaged glands prolonged into 
short horns; capsule subglobose, 5/’-6’’ in 
diameter, its lobes rounded; seeds oblong- 
ovoid, 213/-3/’ long, terete, usually wrinkled. 
In waste places, New Jersey to North Carolina. 
Also in California. Native of Europe. Called 
also Wild Caper, Caper-bush, Mole-tree or Mole- 
plant and Spring-wort, its seeds a cathartic. 
May-Aug. 
1753. 
SPURGE FAMILY. 
20. Euphorbia heterophylla L,. 
Various-leaved Spurge. (Fig. 2326.) 
Euphorbia heterophylla I,. Sp. Pl. 453. 1753. 
Annual or biennial, bright green, pubes- 
cent or nearly glabrous. Stem mostly erect, 
1°-3° tall, woody below, with the branches 
ascending, or the lower spreading, leafy at 
the ends; leaves alternate, very variable, 
linear toorbicular, entire, undulate, sinuate or 
dentate, the uppermost often fiddle-shaped 
and blotched with red; all slender-petioled; 
involucres clustered at the ends of branches, 
144’ long, about equalling the peduncles; 
cleft into 5 ovate or oblong laciniate lobes, 
the sinuses bearing 1 or several sessile glands 
without appendages; capsule glabrous or 
minutely pubescent, 3’ in diameter; seeds 
oblong-ovoid, 114’ long, transversely wrin- 
kled and tuberculate. 
Illinois to Montana, Florida and Central Amer- 
ica. Widely distributed in tropical America. 
April-Noy. 
VW 
