278 



E UPHORBIA CEyE. 



[chap, 



Observe the succulent, leafless, prickly E. antiquonun, 

 with its three angled irregularly narrowed stem, bearing the 

 peduncles in the angles of the upper lobes : the bright 

 scarlet pair of connate bracts, immediately under the 

 flowers, in the introduced, showy garden species E. splendejis 

 and E. Bojeri : the achlamydeous flowers, of which a num- 

 ber of monandrous males (single stamens) and one female 

 (pistil with three-celled ovary) are enclosed in a minute 

 cup-like involucre, which beginners are apt to mistake for 

 a calyx enclosing the stamens and pistil of a single flower. 

 Careful examination with a magnifier of one of the stamens 

 will show that the filament is jointed. This joint indicates 

 the base of the monandrous flower, and is the point from 

 which, in an allied species, the perianth is developed. The 

 ovary is supported upon a stalk in the middle of the 

 involucre, which stalk is jointed like the filaments. The 

 involucre is usually bordered by four or five spreading 

 lobes, which must not be mistaken for petals. These lobes 

 are called the "glands" of the involucre. 



Sub-type 2 — The Coral Plant {Jatropha multifidd). 



A succulent plant, common in gardens, with digitately 

 multifid leaves, and small red flowers in cymes, borne 

 upon erect, succulent peduncles. 



