EUPHORBIACE/E 



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on high-lying moors. It is a small shrub with a 

 procumbent stem and erect thickly-leaved branches. 

 The leaves are rather long and narrow, with the 

 edges curled over, and are arranged in whorls. 

 The small purple flowers stand in the axils of the 

 leaves, and the sexes are generally separate. The 

 perianth is composed of a double row of three 

 lobes each (called by some writers calyx and 

 corolla), and is surrounded by bracts. There are 

 3 stamens, and a short style of several divisions. 

 The fruit is a small black berry, containing several 

 seeds. 



Order LXXXII. Euphorbiaceie (3 genera) 



A large and important Order, but poorly 

 represented in Britain. The plants are herbs 

 or shrubs, with the stamens and pistil either on 

 separate flowers, or, in Euphorbia, the stamens 

 are gathered round a single female flower, within a 

 common involucre. The ovary generally consists 

 of three carpels, separating round an axis in 

 the fruit. 



The Box Tree (Buxus strnpervirens) is a shrub 

 or small tree with small, thick, entire, evergreen 

 leaves. The yellowish-white flowers stand in small 

 clusters in the axils of the leaves. It is much 

 grown in gardens and shrubberies, and a dwart 

 form is used for borders, but it is not often 

 seen growing wild in any abundance, except at 

 Box Hill, near Dorking, where it forms a large 

 wood. The tree is poisonous, like most plants 

 of the Order. It grows very slowly, and the 

 wood is extremely hard, and much used by 

 turners, etc. 



The Dog's Mercury {Mercurialis perennis) 

 a foot high in bushy places, and flowers in April 

 and May. The stem is round and not branched, 

 and the green flowers are placed two or three 

 together, rather far apart, on long flower-stalks. 

 The leaves are long, oval, pointed, and dentated. 

 The capsule is hairy. The plant is a dangerous 

 poison, and has a close ally, the Annual Mercury 

 {Mercurialis annua), which is common on waste 

 ground, and may be distinguished by its b 

 much branched. 



