HUPHOKBIACE^. (SPURGE FAMILY.) 



727 



vineyards; common along coast, in lower mountains and interior 

 plains. 



2. C. verbascifolia, Willd, © .3, densely 2M717ious, divaricately 

 branched. Leaves long-petioled, rounded or subcordate at base, ovate 

 to oUong-ovate, obtuse to acutish, repand. Staminate flowers suh- 

 pentandrous; sepals and petals linear -lanceolate — Summer — Fields; 

 coast and interior plains, especially northward. 



3. C obliqiia, Vabl. 5 Sammdh. Samiwuh. ^Scibbagh. Nil. 

 .5 to 1, pannous, woody at dase ; branches erect or ascending. Leaves 

 short- or rather long-petioled, rounded or short-cuneate at base, ovate 

 to ovate-lanceolate, acutish to acuminate. Staminate flowers subpent- 

 androus, petals olovate-lanceolate ; ])QtdXB of pistillate flowers linear — 

 Summer — El-Beida to Palmyra; south end of Dead Sea, and southward 

 to Sinai and Egypt. 



5. RICIMUI^, L. Castor Oil Plant. Khurwa\ 

 Monoecious. Perigonium 3-5-parted, valvate in bud. Petals 0. Disk 

 0. Staminate /lowers : stamens very numerous, connate, forming a much- 

 branched panicle; anthers of twin, globular cells. Pistillate flowers: 

 ovary ovate-globular, 3-celled, cells 1-ovuled; style 3-parted, hirsute, 

 stigmatose along its whole length; capsule of 3, 1-seeded, 3-valved 

 cells; caruncle of seeds 2-lobed, albumen copious, oily — Shrubs with 

 peltate, palmate-lobed leaves. 



R. coiiimuiiis, L. 5 Common Castor Oil Plant. Khurica'' 

 1 to 4; new shoots and petioles and peduncles glaucous, scurfy. 

 Leaves peltate-palmate, 7-11-lobed, lobes lanceolate, dentate; stipules 

 united, clasping. Flowers in axillary and terminal racemes, the stami- 

 nate below and pistillate above; capsule oblong-ellipsoid, .01 long, echi- 

 nate — Spring — Common on the sea coast, and interior plains ; "Jordan 

 Valley. 



Fig. 331. 



A twig of Eicinus communis, L. 



(ft) A cluster of staminate 

 flowers. (6) A cluster of pistil- 

 late flowers with forked styles, 

 (c) A peltate-palmate leaf. 



