470 cxxii. EUPHORBiACi^ (brown). [S'l/nadeuiuM, 



wholly overtoppicg the gland. Ovary pubescent ; perianth with 1, 2 or 

 all o of its minute deltoid lobes terminating in a filiform or linear- 

 subulate tail J-§ lin. long and as long as the young ovary, pubescent ; 

 styles connate at the basal half, more or less deeply bifid above. 



Wile :Land. Uganda: Butiaba plain, east shore of Lake Albert, 2200 ft., 

 Bagghaive, 850 ! 



Nearly allied to S. angoleusc, but differing in tlie very much shorter cuneate 

 ]>aj-t,ol" tlio leaves, which arc not at all oblanceolatc and rather differently veined, and 

 tlie branches of the cyme are stouter. 



4. EUPHORBIA, Linn. ; Bentb. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 258. 



Apparent flower consisting of a number of stamens (really male 

 flowers, each consisting of a single stamen jointed to a pedicel and soon 

 falling away from it, without or larely with a minute perianth just above 

 the articulation) mingled with membranous scales or bracteoles, with 

 or without a stalked ovary (really a pedicellate female flower, with or 

 without a minute 3-lobed or very rarely cup-like or tubular perianth at 

 the base of the ovary, but without a membranous tubular involucel 

 surrounding the pedicel) in their midst, contained in a caljrx-like cup- 

 shaped involucre, the whole resembling a small hermaphrodite or male 

 flower. Involucre consisting of a cup \vith an outer series of 2-8 

 (usually 5) glands, distinct and equally spaced or rarely united, entire, 

 2-horned, petal-like or divided, alternating with an inner series of 4-S 

 (usually 0) membranous erect or inflexed fringe-toothed lobes. Anthers 

 2-celled; cells usually subglobose and more or less diverging, longi^ 

 tudinally dehiscent. Ovary partly or wholly included or exserted, 3- 

 (rarely '1-) celled, with a single ovule in each cell, pendulous from the apex 

 of the inner angle ; styles o, rarely 2, free or more or less united below, 

 entire or bifid at the apex. Fruit a o- (rarely 2-) celled capsule; cells 

 r^eparating at maturity from the central persistent axis and opening 

 along their inner face into 2 valves, liberating the seed ; inner part of 

 the valves hard or cartilaginous. Seed with a thin crustaceous testa, 

 smooth or variously sculptured, usually carunculate at the hilum ; 

 embryo straight, with flat cotyledons, enclosed in a thick albumen. — 

 Herbs, shrubs or trees, very variable in habit, leafy or leafless, often 

 succulent or cactus-like, with copious milky juice. I^eaves alternate or 

 the upper or all opposite, entire, toothed or rarely lobed. Stipules pre- 

 sent or absent, in the succulent species often transfomied into prickles 

 or spines above a larger pair of spines. Involucres solitary and terminal 

 or axillary or in the forks of the stems, or clustered in the axils of leaves 

 or spines, or in cymes, which are axillary or terminal, simple, umbel - 

 like, paniculate or rarely whorled, very rai'ely in axillary racemes. 



Species about 1000, dispersed throughout the warmer and tempei'ate regions. 



The cup-like involucre of this genus, which so closely resembles the calyx of a 

 liermaphroilite flower, is really composed of two alternating whorls of 4~5 (rarely 

 more) bracts fused together, the out«r whorl terminating in the 4r-5 glands and the 

 inner whorl in the fringed or ciliate lobes. Occasionally abnonnal flowers may be 

 met with in which this is clearly shown, by one or more of the outer whorl being 

 nearly or quite free to the base and tipped with a rudimentary gland. In the 



