422 EUPHORBIACE.E. (SPUEGE FAMILY.) 



1. EUPHORBIA, L. SPURGE. 



Flowers monoecious, destitute of calyx and corolla ; the single pistillate, 

 and several monandrous staminate ones included in a cup-shaped or top-shaped 

 4-5-toothed involucre, which has commonly thick and often colored glands 

 between the teeth. Styles 3, 2-cleft. Capsule exserted, 3-celled : carpels 2- 

 valveil, 1-seeded. A polymorphous genus, with acrid milky juice. 



1. Leaces without stipules. 



* Stem erect, timbellately branched above : involucres solitary, terminal and in 

 the forks of the branches : leaves of the stem mostly alternate, those of (he 

 branches ojijiosite or whorled. 



-t- Glands of the involucre 5, with white petal-like appendages : leaves entire : 



perennials (except No. 6). 



1. E. COrollata, L. Stem smooth or pubescent; branches 4-6, twice or 

 thrice forking, mostly short and fastigiate ; leaves thick, oblong or oval, ob- 

 tuse, pale and mostly hairy beneath ; involucres pedicelled ; appendages of the 

 (green) glands orbicular, showy; capsule aud seed smooth. Var. ANGUSTI- 

 FOLIA, Ell. Stems slender ; branches mostly 3, forking, elongated, spreading ; 

 leaves varying from linear to obovate; involucres small, scattered; appen- 

 dages of the glands transversely oblong. Dry rich soil; the var. in sandy 

 pine barrens. July- Sept. Stem l-2high. 



2. E. mercurialina, Michx. Like the preceding, but lower (|-1 

 high) ; leaves thinner, ovate or roundish ; appendages of the glands narrower; 

 seed oval, rngulose. Rocky woods in the upper districts May- June. 



3. E. discoidalis, Chapm. Smooth or pubescent ; brandies commonly 

 2, divaricate, forking ; leaves linear, obtuse, with the margins revolute ; invo- 

 lucres on slender pedicels ; glands deep red, bordered by the narrow appen- 

 dage; seeds obovate, pale, minutely pitted Dry sandy pine barrens near the 

 coast, West Florida. A ug. - Oct. Plant 6' - 1 8' high ; the stem much shorter 

 than the branches. Leaves 2' -3' long, l"-2" wide. Involucres scattered. 



4. E. Curtisii, Kngelm. Smooth ; stems filiform ; branches mostly 3, 

 erect, sparingly divided ; leaves thin, linear or linear-oblong, obtuse, short- 

 petioled, spreading or recurved ; involucres minute, scattered, on long capil- 

 lary pedicels ; glands green, margined by the white crenate appendages ; 

 capsule erect, short-stalked, round-angled ; seed globose, smooth. Low pine 

 barrens, Florida to North Carolina. August. Plant 6' -9' high, sometimes 

 brandling from the base. Leaves V-l^' long. 



5. E. polyphylla, Engelm. (ined.). Glabrous; steins erect, simple, or 

 branching from the base, 3' -6' high; leaves very numerous, linear, obtuse, 

 6" - 9" long ; involucres mostly single, top-shaped ; appendages black, bordered 

 with white, crenate ; flowers villous ; styles 2 -3, thick, entire ; capsule round- 

 ish ; seeds oval, smooth, white. South Florida. 



6. E. marginata, Pursh. Annual; stem stout, 2 -3 high; leaves 

 ovate, mucronate; sessile, T-2' long, the floral ones, like the appendages of 

 the top-shaped involucre, broadly bordered with white. North Carolina. 

 Introduced from the West. 



