THE BOX-TKEE FAMILY. 359 



A. — Leaves opposite. 



1. Leaves ovate, two or three inches long, stalked, serrate, pointed,'! 



rough, rather crowded at the upper part of the stems, which are 

 erect, nine to twelve inches high, and unhranched. Flowers 

 trimerous, consisting of calyx only, the males yellowish, with I Common 

 nine stamens, and collected in little slender upright interrupted Meecuey. 

 spikes, rising from the axils of the upper leaves ; the females 

 greenish, on separate plants, one or two together, axillary, and 

 nearly sessile till after blooming. Ovaries two 



B. — Leaves alternate or scattered. 

 Flowering branches axillary, the upper ones forming a terminal umbel of three to 

 five or more long rays, every branch usually forked several times, with a 

 pair of green bracts at the base of every fork, and a small green flower- 

 head in the inner angle. These flower-heads consist of an involucre of 

 little bracts, resembling a perianth, and provided with four or five small 

 teeth, alternating with as many yellowish glmds. Within are ten or fifteen 

 stamens, each with a jointed filament, shewing that each is a distinct male 

 blossom ; and in the centre of all, a single female blossom, consisting of a 

 three-celled ovary, surmounted by a three-cleft style, and supported upon a 

 stalk which carries it beyond the margin of the involucre, over which it 

 hangs down. Neither male nor female flowers have any perianth. Stems 

 three to twelve inches high. (In some species of Euphoi'bia the stamens 

 and pistils are in separate flowers, and the stalk of the ovary is straight.) 



♦ Glands of the involucre rounded on the outer edge. 



2. Umbel of about five principal branches. Leaves obovate, very] Sun 



obtuse, finely serrate ) Spuege. 



** Glands of the involucre crescent-shaped, the two horns turned outwards. 

 Umbel of about three principal branches. 



3. Stem leaves linear ; stem branched at the base / Dwaef 



\ Spuege. 



4. Leaves broadly ovate. Umbel large. Horns of the involucre very | Horned 



long J Spuege. 



HABITATS AND LOCALITIES. 

 1. Common Merctjky — {MercuridUs permnis.) 



Shady hedgebanks, and amona: trees and bushes, very common 

 everywhere, flowering early in the spring, before the leaves are fully 

 expanded. 



Curtis, i. 138 ; E. B. xxvi. 1872 ; Baxter, ii. 143. 



An unpleasantly scented, ill-favoured, and very poisonous plant. 



