Euphorbia.'] euphorbiace^. 301 



are sometimes expanded into petal-like appendages. Within are 10 to 15 

 male flowers, consisting each of a single stamen with an articulated filament, 

 and a single female flower in the centre, reduced to a stipitate 3 -celled ovary 

 protruding from the involucre, with 1 pendulous ovule in each cell. Style 

 3-cleft, the branches (or distinct styles) entire or 2-lobed. Capsule separa- 

 ting into 3 2-valved cocci. — Herbs or shrubs, abounding in milky juice. Stem- 

 leaves alternate, without stipules, the flowering-branches, umbellate, dichoto- 

 mous, with usually opposite leaves ; or all the leaves opposite and often stipu- 

 late ; or succulent leafless shrubs. 



A very large genus, dispersed over nearly the whole world. 



Succulent shrub, leafless, or with small scattered leaves 1. E. Tlrucalli. 



Herbs. Leaves below the umbel alternate 2. E. helioscopia. 



Herbs. Leaves all opposite and minutely stipulate. 

 Capsules glabrous. 



Cymes (small) loosely dichotomous 3. E. hypericifolia. 



Flower-heads 2 or 3 together, almost sessile in the upper axils . 4. E. sanguinea. 

 Capsules covered with appressed hairs. 



Leaves 1 to H m - Flower-heads very numerous, minute, in 



very dense pedunculate heads or cymes 6. E. pilulifera. 



Leaves 2 to 3 lines. Flower-heads few, in almost sessile cymes . 5. E. thymifolia. 



1. E. Tirucalli, Linn.; Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 470. An erect unarmed 

 succulent shrub or small tree ; the branches cylindrical, scattered or clustered, 

 very divergent, of a bright shining green. Leaves none, or very few and small, 

 linear-oblong. Flower-heads clustered on very short pedicels in the forks of 

 some of the smaller branches. Glands of the involucre peltate. Capsule hairy. 

 Styles 2-lobed. 



Common in the island, Hance. In hedges, etc., over a great part of India and the Archi- 

 pelago. It seldom produces flowers, and still more rarely fruits, we possess neither in the 

 Kew herbaria, and I only know them from Roxburgh's description and drawing. 



2. E. helioscopia, Linn. ; Willd. Spec. ii. 914. An erect or ascend- 

 ing annual, 6 or 8 in. to 1 ft. high, simple or with a few branches ascending 

 from the base. Stem-leaves alternate, obovate or broadly oblong, narrowed 

 into a short stalk. Umbel of 5 rays, each ray once or twice forked ; the 

 branches very short. Moral leaves opposite, broadly obovate or orbicular, 

 minutely toothed. Glands of the involucre entire and rounded. Capsules 

 glabrous and smooth. Seeds pitted, with raised reticulate veins. — E. Feplus, 

 Seem. Bot. Her. 409 ; not of Linn. 



Cultivated and waste places, Hance. A common weed in Europe and temperate Asia, 

 appearing also here and there in northern India. 



3. E. hypericifolia, Linn. ; Willd. Sp.il 895 ; Hook. Exot. Fl. £ 36. 

 An ascending or erect annual, 6 in. to 1 or 2 ft. high, glabrous or minutely 

 hoary. Leaves all opposite, from ovate to narrow-oblong, ^ to 1 in. long, 

 obtuse, serrulate, usually very oblique at the base. Cymes small, loosely dicho- 

 tomous, terminal or in the upper axils. Involucre about % line long; the 

 glands small and entire, with small orbicular white petal-like appendages, 

 sometimes scarcely perceptible, sometimes twice as broad as the gland. Cap- 

 sule about 1 line diameter, quite glabrous. Seeds with 4 prominent angles, 

 and slightly wrinkled between them. 



In waste places, Hance and others. A common weed in tropical countries, especially 



