EUFHORBIACE^. (SPURGE FAMILY.) 389 



*+ Leaves scattered, thin and membranaceous: jx>d smooth. 



17. E. Peplus, L. (Petty Spurge.) Erect or ascending (5'- 10' high) ; 

 leaves petioled, round-obovate ; the upper floral ones ovate ; umbel 3-rayed, then 

 forking ; glands long-horned ; lobes of the pod 2-wing-crested on the back ; 

 seeds 2-grooved on the inner face, pitted on the back. Q) — Waste places in the 

 Eastern States; rather rare. (Nat. from Eu.) 



18. E. coammiiuta, Engelm. mss. Stems branched from a commonly 

 decumbent base (6'- 12' high); leaves obovate, the upper all sessile, the upper 

 floral roundish-dilated, broader than long; pod obtusely angled, crestless; seeds 

 ovate, pitted all over. © (J) 1]. ? — Along water-courses, from Virginia toward 

 the mountains to Ohio and westward. — Leaves often persistent over the winter 

 on sterile shoots, turning red, like those of the European E. amygdaloidea. 

 Seeds 1" long, larger than those of E. Peplus ; with which this has been con 

 founded ; but the character of the pods and seeds readily distinguish it. 



■*-*■ ++ Leaves all opposite or nearly so, thickish ; pod smooth. 



19. E. Lathyris, L. (Capeu Spurge.) Stem stout (2°-3° high) ; 

 leaves linear-oblong, the floral oblong-ovate and heart-shaped, pointed ; umbel 

 3 -4-raycd, then forking; glands short-homed. (2) — Sparingly escaped from 

 gardens, where it is common. (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. CNIDOSCOEUS, Pohl. Spurge-Nettle. 



Flowers monoecious, in a terminal open forking cyme; the fertile ones usu- 

 ally in the lower forks. Calyx corolla-like (white) ; in the staminate flowers 

 salver-shaped, 5-lobed; in the pistillate, 5-parted, convolute in the bud. Corolla 

 none. Hypogynous glands 5, small. Sler. Fl. Stamens 10, monadelphonS 

 below, the inner ones longer. Frit. Fl. Ovary 3-celled : styles 3, short, some- 

 what united, many-cleft. Pod 3-cclled, bristly-hairy, 3-secded, separating into 

 3 two-valved carpels. — Perennials, beset with stinging bristles (whence appar- 

 ently the name, from KviSn, a nettle, and <TKo>Xoy, a prickle). 



1. C. stilllllldsa. (Tread-Softly.) Herbaceous, from a long peren- 

 nial root, branching (6'-18' high) ; leaves roundish-heart-shaped, 3-5-lobcd. 

 'Jatropha stimulosa, Michx.) — Sandy soil, Virginia and southward. 



3. ACALI'PIIA, L. Three-seeded Mercury. 



Flowers monoecious ; the sterile very small, clustered in spikes, with the few 

 or solitary fertile flowers at their base, or sometimes in separate spikes. Calyx 

 of the sterile flowers 4-parted ; of the fertile, 3-parted. Corolla none. Stamens 

 8- 16 : filaments short, monadclphous at the base : anther-cells separate, long, 

 hanging from the apex of the filament. Styles 3, cur-fringed (red). Pod sep- 

 arating into 3 globular carpels which split into 2 valves, rarely of only one ear- 

 pel. — Annual herbs (in N. America), with the appearance of Nettles or Ama- 

 ranths ; the leaves alternate, petioled, with stipules. Clusters of sterile flowers 

 with a minute bract ; the fertile surrounded by a large and leaf-like cut-lobed 

 persistent bract. (' Axd) j](pn , an ancient name of the Nettle.) 



33* 



