604 EUPHORBIACE^E EREMOCAKPDS 



EUPHORBIA 



1 Eremocarpus Flowers not involucrate: staminate flowers with a 5-6- 



parted calyx; pistillate without : capsule 1-celled and 1-seeded. 



2 Euphorbia Flowers all without or with only a rudimentary calyx, 



subtended by a calyx-like involucre : capsule 3-celled. 



1 EREMOCARPUS Benth. Bot. Sulph. 53, t. 20. 



Low heavy-scented annuals with alternate entire petioled leaves 

 without stipules and small flowers in axillary clusters without an 

 involucre. Calyx of the staminate flowers 5- or 6-parted, slightly 

 imbricated. Stamens 6 or 7, central on the hairy receptacle ; 

 filaments exserted: anthers inflexed in the bud Pistillate flowers 

 without calyx. Ovary with 4 or 5 glands at the base, 1-celled, 

 1-ovuled. Style simple, filiform, stigmatic at the apex. Capsule 

 2-valved. Seeds smooth and shining. Cotyledons broad, cor- 

 date, as long as the radicle. 



E. setigerns Benth. 1. c. Hoary throughout with a very dense stellate 

 pubescence and hispid with stiff spreading hairs : stem stout, dichotomous- 

 ly branched from the base, the branches mostly procumbent or ascending, 

 4-12 inches long: leaves thick ovate, obtuse, cuneate or rounded at base, 

 ^-2 inches long, on long petioles, the upper crowded and apparently op- 

 posite or ternate: staminate flowers pedicelled: calyx with oblong obtuse 

 segments a line long: pistillate flowers in the lower axils, 1-3 together: 

 ovary and style densely pubescent: capsule obovate-oblong. 2 lines 1-jng, 

 smooth and shining, filled by the seed. In dry valleys, eastern Washing- 

 ton to California. 



2 EUPHORBIA L. Sp. 450. 



Herbs or shrubs with alternate, opposite or verticillate leaves 

 and usually small monoecious flowers without floral envelopes but 

 subtended by a top-shaped or campanulate involucre. Staminate 

 flowers numerous, of a single naked stamen jointed upon a short 

 pedicel which has usually a minute bract at base : anther-cells 

 globose, distinct: pistillate flowers solitary in the center of the 

 involucre, pedicellate and soon exserted, Ovary 3-celled and 3- 

 ovuled: styles 3, usually 2-cleft. Cotyledons linear or ovate. 



E. serpyllifolia .Pers. Syn. ii, 14. Glabrous dark green or reddish 

 annual : stem branched from the base, the slender branches prostrate or 

 ascending, 2-15 inches long: leaves oblong to spatulate, 1-6 inc.hes long, 

 obtuse or retuae, nearly entire or serrulate to below the middle, short- 

 petioled. the ba>e oblique, mostly truncate or obtuse: stipules at length a 

 fringe of weak setae: involucres solitarv in the axils, sometimes clustered 

 toward the ends of the branchlets, less than a line long, bearing 4 disk-like 

 glands each "iibtended by a narrow lobed appendage: capsule a line broad, 

 slightly nodding: seed* ovoid, 4-anglel. the facn transversely wrinkled and 

 pitied. In dry soil Washington to California and * isconsin. 



Var. con^anguiuea Boiss. Branches erect : leaves with an obtuse 

 sharply serrate apex : lobes of the involucres lacerate: seeds darker and 

 more nearly ovate, less sharp on the angles. Range of the type. 



E. Gree iei Millsp Pitt, ii, 88. Glabrous annual, radiately branched 

 from the base, the tranches prostrate an 1 divaricately much branched. 5- 

 6 inches long: stipules triangular at base, lacerate, leaves ovate, entire, 

 oblique, mucronulate: involucres solitary in the axils, on peduncles twice 



