110 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



SPECIES XII— EUPHORBIA PORTLANDICA. Linn. 



Plate MCCLXIV. 

 E. segetalis, Benth. Haiidbk. Brit. Bot. ed. ii. p. 408 (non Linn.). 



Rootstock somewhat woody, branched only where it emerges from 

 the ground, not creeping. Stems rather slender, erect or ascending, 

 some of them short and barren, others longer and flowering ; the latter 

 simple or with a few flowering branches, or sometimes with numerous 

 flowering branches beneath the umbel. Leaves scattered, crowded at 

 the base of the flowering stems and on the barren shoots, but often 

 distant in the upper part of the former, sessile, strapshaped-oblanceo- 

 late, or in the upper part of the flowering stems obovate, entire, acute, 

 or on the flowering stems obtuse and apiculate. Umbel-rays 5, more 

 rarely 2, 3, or 4, three or four times 2-furcate. Bracts ovate-deltoid 

 or rhombic-ovate, apiculate, not connate. Involucral glands lunate, 

 with 2 long incurved slender cusps (rarely absent). Capsule globular, 

 3-lobed; cocca rounded on the back, with 2 narrow bands of raised 

 points, one along each side of the very faint dorsal furrow. Seeds 

 subquadrate-ovoid, with numerous elongate foveas, ashy-white, with a 

 large conical hoodshaped caruncule, which is notched on the inner 

 side. Plant glabrous ; leaves rather thick, glaucous. 



On stony banks and cliff's by the sea, or on sandy and shingly sea- 

 beaches. Rather rare, and exclusively confined to the south-west and 

 west coast, extending from the Isle of Wight and Stokes Bay to the 

 Mull of Galloway. Local, but widely distributed in Ireland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Early Summer to Autumn. 



Rootstock somewhat woody, slender. Stems usually numerous, 

 so that the plant forms a small bush 6 to 18 inches high. Leaves, 

 especially on the flowering stem, soon falling off* and leaving it marked 

 with scars ; those on the barren shoots narrower, and more acute 

 than the rest, the length varying from ^^ to 1 inch; when growing, 

 the leaves are spreading, but as soon as the plant is pulled up and 

 begins to wither, they become adpressed. Umbel-rays rather long, 

 sometimes occupying nearly half the height of the plant. Bracts ^ 

 to I" inch across the pair. Capsule ^ inch long. Seeds brown Avhen 

 moist, but, like many of the other species of this genus, the covering 

 becomes ashy- white when dry. Stems, and sometimes the leaves and 

 bracts, frequently tinged with bright red in autumn. 



Mr. Bentham refers this plant to the south European E. segetalis, 

 which is an annual plant with narrower leaves and cordate bracts, 



