452 EUPHORBIACE^. (sPURGE FAMILY.) 



i. Flowers in terminal racemes or spikes. Stamens inflexed in the hud. Stellate-downy or 



scurfy, or hairy and glandular ; leaves mostly entire. 

 5. Croton. Flowers spiked or glomerate. Ovary and fruit 3- (rarely 2 - 4-) celled. 

 G. Crotonopsis. Flowers scattered on the branchlets. Ovary and fruit 1-celled. 



c. Flowers in axillary spikes or racemes {except n. 0), apetalous (except n. 7). Stamens S or 



more ; anthers erect in the bud. 



7. Argythamnia. Petals and sepals 5. Stamens 10-15, united. Styles bifid, linear. 



8. Acalypha. Calyx 4- (3-5-) parted. Stamens mostly 8. Fertile flowers in the axils 



of leafy bracts. Stigmas finely dissected. 



9. Bicinus. Racemes terminal, subpanicled. Calyx 3-5-parted, Stamens very numer- 



ous ; the filaments repeatedly branched. Styles 2-parted. 



d. Flowers apetalous, in racemes or spikes pistillate at base. Stamens 2 or 3. Styles siniple- 



10. Tragia. Flowers racemose. Calyx-lobes valvate in bud. Hirsute or pubescent. 



11. Stillingia. Flowers spicate. Calyx-lobes imbricate in bud. Fertile bracts glandu- 



liferous. Glabrous. 



1. EUPHORBIA, L. Spurge. 



riowers monoecious, included in a cup-shaped 4-5-lobed involucre [flower 

 of older authors) resembling a calyx or corolla, and usually bearing large 

 thick glands (with or without petal-like margins) at its sinuses. Sterile flow- 

 ers numerous and lining the base of the involuci-e, each from the axil of a little 

 bract, and consisting merely of a single stamen jointed on a pedicel like the 

 filament; anther-cells globular, separate. Fertile flower solitary in the middle 

 of the involucre, soon protruded on a long pedicel, consisting of a 3-lobed and 

 S-celled ovary with no calyx, or a mere vestige. Styles 3, each 2-cleft ; the 

 stigmas therefore 6. Pod separating into 3 1 -seeded carpels, which split elas- 

 tically into 2 valves. Seed often caruncled (ours only in §§ 5 and 6). — Plants 

 (herbs in the United States), with a milky acrid juice. Peduncles terminal, 

 often umbellate-clustered ; in the first section mostly appearing lateral, but 

 not really axillary. (Named after Eupliorbus, physician to King Juba.) 



A. Glands of the involucre with petal-like, usualli/ white or rose-colored, margins 

 or appendages ; these almost obsolete in n. 1. 



§ 1. AXISOPHYLLUM. Leaves all opposite, short-petioled , small, oblique at 

 base ; stipules awl-shaped or scali/ and often fringed, persistent ; stems much 

 branched, spreading or usually procumbent ; involucres solitary in the forks 

 or in terminal or pseudo-lateral clusters, small, with 4 glands; seeds ash- 

 colored {except in n. 10) ; annuals. 



* Seeds smooth and even; leaves entire ; whole plant glabrous. 



1. E. polygonifolia, L. Prostrate-spreading; leaves oblong -linear, ob- 

 tuse, mucronate, slightly cordate or obtuse at base (4 - 8'' long) ; stipules seta- 

 ceously divided ; peduncles in the forks, as long as the petioles ; lobes of the 

 involucre longer than the minute not appendaged glands ; pods obtusely angled ; 

 seeds ovate (over 1" long, the largest of this section). — Sandy shores of the 

 Atlantic and of the Great Lakes. 



2. E. Geyeri, Engelm. Procumbent; /ea i-es oWo»^-ofa^e, obtuse, slightly 

 mucronate, mostly acutish at base, lowermost cordate (3 -6'' long); stipules 

 setaceously divided; peduncles as long as the petioles, at length in loose foli- 

 aceous lateral clusters; glands with narrow white or red appendages ; pods 



