428 EUPHOKBIACE.E. (SPUKGE FAMILY.) 



5. EXCCECARIA, L. 



Mainly like the two preceding, but the fruit fleshy or baccate, the seeds not 

 caruuculate, often enveloped in a spongy or fatty coat, and the sterile flowers 

 diaudrous. Shrubs or trees. 



1. E. sebifera, Mull. Arborescent; leaves loug-petioled, rhomboidal, 

 acuminate, entire ; spikes terminal, densely flowered ; sterile flowers pedi- 

 celled ; calyx 4-toothed ; stamens 2 ; capsule roughish ; seeds white. Georgia 

 and South Carolina, near the coast ; introduced from China. June -July. 

 A tree 20 -40 high. 



6. ACALYPHA, L. 



Flowers monoecious, apetalous, in axillary and terminal spikes. Staminate 

 flowers clustered, minutely bracted. Calyx 4-parted. Stamens 8- 1C, with 

 the filaments united at the base ; anthers pendulous. Pistillate flowers at the 

 base of the stamiuate ones, or on separate spikes, surrounded by a leafy 

 toothed bract. Calyx 3-parted. Styles 3, many-cleft. Capsule roundish, of 

 three 1-celled, 1 -seeded, 2-valved carpels. Herbs, witli watery juice, and al- 

 ternate serrate leaves. 



* Staminate and pistillate jlovtefs on the same sjiike. 



1. A. Virginica. L. Annual, smoothish or hairy ; stem erect, branched ; 

 leaves thin, long-petioled, rhombic-ovate or oblong-ovate, acute, coarsely ser- 

 rate above the middle ; Staminate spikes few-flowered, mostly shorter than the 

 large 5 - 9-lobed bracts, with 1-3 pistillate flowers at the base ; capsule pubes- 

 cent. Fields and around dwellings. July -Sept. Stem l-2 high. 

 Leaves, with the petiole, 4' -5' long. 



Var. gracilens, Miill. Stem slender, 6' -18' high; leaves smaller, lance- 

 olate, obscurely serrate or entire ; Staminate spikes longer than the serrate or 

 toothed bracts. Sterile soil. July - Sept. 



2. A. Chamsedrifolia, Miill. Perennial; stems several from a thick 

 *id woody root, prostrate, pubescent, simple or sparingly branched ; leaves 

 short-petioled, ovate and oblong, obtuse, crenate, hairy; pistillate flowers nu- 

 merous, crowded at the base of the slender Staminate spike, each surrounded 

 by a round-ovate hairy toothed bract ; capsule bristly ; seed ovoid, smooth. 

 South Florida. Stems 4' -6' long. Leaves rigid, 6" -8" long. Spikes 

 mostly terminal. 



* * Staminate and pistillate flowers on separate spikes. 



3. A. Lindheimeri, Miill. Stem (1 high) branching, hirsute ; leaves 

 rhombic-ovate, serrate, short-petioled (!' long); spikes very slender ; bracts 

 of the numerous pistillate flowers ovate, deeply 5 - 7-toothed, 1 - 2-flo\vered ; 

 ovary hirsute; styles long, setaceously 4-6-cleft; seeds minutely pitted 

 Key West (Riddel! in Herb. Mohr). 



4. A. Caroliniana, Walt. Annual ; stem erect, much branched, pubes- 

 cent ; leaves thin, smooth, cordate-ovate, sharply serrate, long-petioled ; stami- 

 nate spike lateral, small, the minute white flowers pedicelled ; pistillate spike 

 terminal, stout, many-flowered ; bracts cut into several subulate lobes ; capsule 

 bristly; seeds silvery, pitted. Cultivated ground. July - Sept. Stem 1- 

 2 high. Leaves 2' - 3' long. 



