458 EUPHORBIACE^. (SPURGE FAMILY.) 



into as many 2-valved 1-seeded carpels. Seeds carunculate. — Stellate-doAvny, 

 or scurfy, or hairy and glandular plants, mostly strong-scented ; the fertile 

 flowers usually at the base of the sterile spike or cluster. LeaA^es alternate, 

 or sometimes imperfectly opposite, with or without obvious stipules. {Kporcov, 

 the Greek name of the Castor-oil Plant, of this family.) 



* Sterile Jlowers with ^-parted calijx, as many petals, a A-rayed disk, and 8 



stamens ; fertile flowers with b-parted calyx, very minute rudimentary pet- 

 als, and the 3 styles 2-cleft. 



1. C. glandulosus, L. Annual, rough-hairy and glandular (1-2° 

 high), somewhat umhellately branched ; leaA'es oblong or linear-oblong, 

 obtusely toothed, the base with a saucer-shaped gland on each side ; fertile 

 floAvers capitate-clustered at the base of the sterile spike, sessile in the forks 

 and terminal. — Open waste places, Va. to Iowa, E. Kan. and southward. 



* * Sterile flowers with b-parted calyx, as many glands alternating with the 



petals, and \0-\4r stamens; fertile flowers with 7-l2-parted calyx, no 

 petals, and the 3 styles twice or thrice 2-parted. 



2. C. capitatUS, Michx. Annual, densely soft-woolly and somewhat 

 glandular (1 -2° high), branched; leaves long-petioled, lance-oblong or elon- 

 gated-oblong, rounded at base, entire ; petals obovate-lanceolate, densely fim- 

 l)riate; fertile flowers several, capitate-croAvded at the base of the short 

 terminal sterile spike. — Barrens, N. J. to Ga., west to S. Ind., Iowa, and 

 K. Kan. July -Sept. 



* * * Sterile flowers icith ttnegually 3-5-paiied calyx, as many petals and 



scale-like glands, and 3-8 stamens ; fertile flowers with equally b-parted 

 calyx, no petals, b glands, and 2 sessile 2-parted stigmas. 



3. C. monanthogynus, Michx. Annual, whitish-stellate-pubescent 

 and rusty-glandular; stems (1-2° high) slender, erect, beloAv often umhel- 

 lately 3 - 4-forked, then repeatedly 2 - 3-forked or alternately branched ; leaves 

 oblong-ovate or narrowly oblong, entire, often acutish (6- 12" long, about 

 twice the length of the petioles) ; flowers in tlie forks, the sterile few on the 

 summit of a short and erect peduncle, the fertile few and clustered or mostly 

 solitary on short recurved peduncles ; ovary 2-celled ; fruit often by abortion 

 1-celled and 1-seeded; the seed broadly OA'al. — Barrens and dry prairies, 

 S. Ind. to N. C. and Fla., west to E. Kan. June - Sept. 



* * * * Dioecious; calyx equally b-parted ; petals none ; stamens 10 or more ,■ 



st'jles ticice or thrice dichotomously 2-parted. 



4. C. Texensis, Muell. Annual, covered with a close canescent stellate 

 pubescence, dichotomously branched or spreading (1-2° high); leaves nar- 

 roAvly oblong-lanceolate to linear; staminate spikes or racemes very short, 

 often sessile ; capsule stellate-tomentose and somewhat muricate. — Mo. and 

 Kan. to Ala., Tex., and Avestward. 



6. CROTONdPSIS, Michx. 



FloAvers monoecious, in very small terminal or lateral spikes or clusters, the 

 loAver fertile. Ster. Fl. Calyx equally 5-parted. Petals 5, spatulate. Sta- 

 mens 5, opposite the petals ; filaments distinct, inflexed in the bud, enlarged 



