GROUP V. ANGIOSPERM.E ; DICOTYLEDONES. 527 



Of Euphorbia, the Spurge, a number of species are annual herbs, as 

 E. Peplns and helioscopia (the common Sun Spurge) occurring in gardens 

 and by roadsides ; some South European forms" are small shrubs, as E. 

 ilendroides and fruticosa. In Africa and the Canary Islands the genus is 

 represented by species which much resemble Cactese in appearance ; their 

 stems are thick and cylindrical or angular or sometimes spherical, pro- 

 ducing small leaves which usually soon fall off. Mercurial i.i aniiua and 

 perennis (Dog's Mercury) are weeds ; the first common in cultivated 

 ground, the second in woods; their flowers are dioecious. Kicinus coni- 

 munis (the Castor-oil plant) is a native of Africa, now frequently culti- 

 vated. Some species of Phyllanthus have phylloid branches which bear 

 their small flowers in the axils of minute bristle-like leaves situated in 

 indentations at the edge of the phylloclade. Manihot iitilissima, a South 

 American plant, yields the starchy meal known in commerce as tapioca. 

 From Heven guianensis, a species growing in Central America, most of the 

 caoutchouc is obtained. 



SUB-CLASS II. POLYPETAL.E. 



Flowers usually monoclinous : perianth usually consisting of 

 calyx and corolla, the petals being free. 



SERIES I. THALAMIFLOR-E. 



Sepals usually free : petals often indefinite : stamens hypogynous, 

 often indefinite : gynaeceum apocarpous or syncarpous. 



Cohort I. Ranales. Flowers generally acyclic or hemicyclic : 

 perianth consisting of calyx only, or of calyx and corolla : stamens 

 usually indefinite : gynseceum apocarpous, sometimes reduced to a 

 single carpel ; very rarely syncarpous, with a multilocular ovary. 

 Seed with or without endosperm. 



Order 1. RANUNCULACE.E. Perianth either consisting of a 

 petaloid calyx, or of calyx and corolla, usually spiral: stamens 

 numerous, occupying several turns of the spiral, or arranged in 

 several alternating whorls: anthers usually with lateral dehis- 

 cence, sometimes extrorse or introrse : carpels numerous, spirally 

 arranged ; rarely one only ; the ovules are disposed on the connate 

 margins of each carpel, that is, in two rows down the ventral 

 suture ; in several genera the number of the ovules in each ovary 

 is reduced to one, which then originates from either the upper or 

 the lower end of the cavity of the ovary : seed with endosperm. 

 They are almost all herbaceous plants, and are either annuals or 

 they have perrennial rhizomes ; they have no stipules, but they 

 have amplexicaul leaves. 



Tribe 1. Anemonece. Petals generally replaced by stamens : sepals fre- 



