206 



EUPHORBIACEAE. 



carpels from a persistent axis. Seeds anatropoiis; embryo in fleshy or 

 oily endosperm^ the broad cotyledons almost filling the seed-coats. About 

 250 g-enera and over 4000 species, of wide distribution. 



Flowers not in an involucre ; sepals several. 

 Ovules 2 in each ovary-cavity. 

 Ovule 1 in each ovary-cavity. 

 Plants stellate-pubescent. 

 Plants with simple hairs, or glabrous. 



Flowers spicate, the pistillate basal, or plants com- 

 pletely dioecious. 

 Sepals partially united. 

 Sepals 3, distinct. 

 Flowers racemose or panicled. the pistillate ones ter- 

 minal, or inflorescence cymose. 

 Leaves peltate : flowers racemose. 

 Leaves not peltate. ♦ 



Flowers cymose. 

 Flowers racemose or panicled. 

 Flowers in an involucre: sepal 1, a mere scale. 

 Involucre regular or nearly so. 



Glands of the involucre with petal-like appendages. 

 Glands of the involucre without appendages. 



Inflorescence of cymes in a terminal umbel ; stipules 



wanting. 

 Cymes clustered : stipules gland-like. 

 Involucre irregular, oblique. 



1. Fhyllanthus. 



2. Croton. 



3. Acalypha. 



4. Mercurialis 



Ricinus. 



6. Jatropha. 



7. Maniliot. 



8. Chamaesyce. 



9. Tithymahis. 



10. Poinsettia. 



11. Pedilanthus. 



1. FHYLLANTHUS L. 



Annual or biennial herbs (some tropical species shrubs or trees). Leaves 

 alternate^ entire, often so arranged as to appear like the leaflets of a com- 

 pound leaf. Mowers monoecious, apetalous, a staminate and a pistillate one 

 together in the axils. Calyx mostly o-6-parted, the lobes imbricated. Stamens 

 usually 3. Ovules 2 in each cavity; styles 3, each 2-cleft. [Greek, leaf -flower, 

 the blossoms in some species being seated on leaf-like flattened branches.] 

 More than 400 species, natives of the tropical and temperate zones of both 

 hemispheres. Type species: Fhyllanthus Niruri L. 



1. Fhyllanthus Niruri L. Ni- 

 ruri. (Fig. 226.) Annual, glabrous, 

 Stems erect or ascending, 4'-12' tall, 

 the branches spreading or recurving; 

 leaves alternate, small, thin, oblong 

 or slightly broadest above the 

 middle, li"-5" long, obtuse, short- 

 petioled, approximate on the branch- 

 lets; pedicels about V long; sepals 

 orbicular or oval, barely 1" long, the 

 outer ones orbicular, all abruptly 

 pointed; capsules 3-lobed, about 1" 

 broad, smooth; seeds about V long. 



Common in waste and cultivated 

 grounds. Naturalized. Native in 

 Florida, the West Indies and tropical 

 continental America. Old World tropics. 

 Flowers nearly throughout the year. 



