CXX.— EUPHORBIACE^. 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with often milky juice; 1. alt. and 

 simple, rarely opp. or compound, usually stipulate; infl. 

 various; fl. usually small, often minute, unisexual, sexes 

 dissimilar; perianth simple, or, if double, of cal. and minute 

 pet., sometimes o in one or both sexes ; disk often present ; 

 stam. I, few, or many, anth. 2-celled or 3-4-locellate ; ov. 

 superior, of 3 or more, rarely 2, more or less united 1-2-ovuled 

 carp. ; styles as many as the cells, free or united below 

 (solitary in Dalechampia); ovules pendulous from the inner 

 angle of the cells, funicle often thickened; fr. usually a 

 capsule of 3 or more dorsally dehiscing 1-2-seeded cocci 

 separating from a central axis, or a more or less fleshy berry 

 or drupe; seed arillate or not; embryo straight, endosperm 

 fleshy, often oily (o in Actephila); cotyledons flat or folded, 

 radicle superior. 



Chiefly a tropical Order, one of the largest of flowering plants, and 

 one of the six largest of the Ceylon flora. Of genera not indigenous in 

 the island, but widely cultivated, or more or less naturalised, are the 

 scarlet-bracted Poinsettia pulcherriina, of Mexico ; the Tallow tree of 

 China, Exccecaria sebifera; the American Manihot utilissima^ yielding 

 Cassava and Tapioca, together with the three recently introduced 

 American Indiarubber-producirg plants, Hevea brasiliensis, the Para 

 Rubber, Manihot Glaziovii, the Ceara Rubber, and Casiilloa elas/ica, 

 the Mexican Rubber.— J. D. H. 



Infl. of many naked pedicelled stamens 

 surrounding a naked pedicelled 

 ov., all contained in a perianth- 

 like 4-5-lobed involucre {Euphor- 

 biecB) I. Euphorbia. 



Infl. of unisexual fl. with a single or 

 double perianth. 

 Cells of ov. 2-ovuled. 



Ovules with a ventral raphe {BuxecE) 2. Sarcococca. 



PART IV. B 



