EUPHORBIA MARGINATA. 



SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN. 



NATURAL ORDER, EUPHORBIACE/F.. 



Eui'HORBlA MARGINATA, Pursh. — Leaves oblong-Lanceolate, sub-cordate, sessile, acute, mucro- 

 nate, entire on the margin, glabrous; umbel three-rayed, once or twice dichotomous; 

 involucrate leaves oblong, colored and membranaceous at the margin ; inner segments of 

 the floral involucre roundish; capsule hairy-pubescent. (Wood's C/ass-Book of Bolaiiy.') 



OME of the plants now recognized as Euphorbia were 

 also known to the ancients, and references to them 

 occur in some of the oldest writings extant. The genus com- 

 prises an immense number of species; and yet, as intelligent 

 men penetrate unexplored portions of the globe, they occa- 

 sionally find new kinds to add to the already large list. Great 

 numbers of them prefer hot and dry places, and so as what are 

 called the deserts of our country became explored, and plants 

 not known before were discovered, new Euphorbias of all others 

 would be likely to be found among them. In the early part of 

 the present century very litde was known of the plants growing 

 beyond the Mississippi or the Missouri. It was not undl 1814 

 when Pursh issued in Uondon his work on the " Flora of North 

 America," that we had any knowledge of the flowers of this part 

 of our country, and it is in this work that our present subject 

 was first named and described. But though the credit of estab- 

 lishing the name may be given to Pursh under botanical rules, it 

 does not follow that he was th : original collector of the plants 

 he wrote of. He was never beyond the Mississippi river, and 

 he was indebted to the expedition of Uewis and Clarke for 

 much of his material. Some of the dried specimens of this 

 expedition fell into his hands, and were used by him for his 



