- KUPII<>UJ)IACK:. l'2 



ORDKII LXXXI. EUPHORBIA'CE^E. (Si-ui^n F.) 



Plants with milky juice and monoecious flowers, represented in 

 Canada chiefly by the t\vo following genera: 



1. EUPHOll'BIA, L. SPL-UUK. 



Flowers monoecious, the sterile and fertile ones both destitute 

 of calyx and corolla, but loth contained in the same 4-5-lo' 

 shaded involucre which resembles a cdfyx, and therefore the whole 

 will probably at first sight be taken for a single flower. Sterile 

 flowers numerous, each of a single naked stamen from the axil, oj 

 minute bract. Fertile flower only 1 in each involucre; ovary 3- 

 lobed, -soon protruded on a long pedicel; styles 3, each 2-cleffc. 

 Peduncles terminal, often umbellate. 



< res all similar and opposite, short-petioled, yreen or blotched with brown 

 above, furnished with scale-like, or fringed stipules. Stems spreading in- 

 prostrate, much forked. Involucres iii terminal or lateral clusters, or one 

 involucre in each fork, (he involucre invariably with U (mostly petal-like) 

 glands in the sinuses. 



1. E. polygonifo'lia, L. Leaves entire, oblong- linear, mucro- 

 uate, very smooth. Stipules bristly-fringed. Peduncles in the 

 forks'. Glands of the involucre very small, not petal-like. Pods 

 obtusely angled. Shores of the Great Lakes, in sandy or gravelly 

 places. 



2. E. serpens, H. B. K. Leaves entire, round-ovate, very 

 small, smooth. Stipules membranaceous, triangular. Peduncles 

 longer than the petioles, in loose clusters. Glands of the small 

 involucre with minute crenulate appendages. Stems thread-like, 

 prostrate. Pods acutely angled. Seeds smooth. London and 

 westward, not common. 



3. E. glyptosper'ma, Engel. Leaves serrulate towards the 

 apex, linear-oblong, very unequal at the lose. Stipules lanceolate, 

 cut into bristles. Peduncles as long as the petioTes, in dense 

 lateral clusters. Glands of the small involucre with crenulate 

 appendages. Stems erect-spreading. Pods sharply angled. Seeds 

 sharply 4-angIed, vrith 5 or 6 sharp transverse wrinkles. Gravelly 

 soil. 



