218 



EUPHORBIACEAE. 



2. Poinsettia cyathophora 

 (Murr.) S. Brown. Annual Poin- 

 settia. (Fig. 244.) Annual, her- 

 baceous, 2i° higli or less, pubescent. 

 Stem stout, hollow, simple, or 

 branched. Leaves clustered at the 

 ends of the stem and branches, ovate 

 to obovate in outline, coarsely angu- 

 lately few-toothed, acute or acuminate, 

 green, or the upper with whitish bases ; 

 involucres in dense, broad, terminal 

 clusters; capsule-valves with elevated 

 margins. [ EupJiorhia cyathophora 

 Murr.] 



Common in cultivated ground. Nat- 

 uralized. Native of tropical America. 



Poinsettia pulcherrima (Willd.) 

 Graham, Garden Poinsettia, Mexi- 

 can, a shrub up to 10° high, with thin 

 ovate lobed or entire, slender-petioled, 

 acute leaves 4'-8' long, and small, 

 yellowish-green, clustered flowers, sub- 

 tended by large, lanceolate, bright 

 vermilion-red bracts 2'-4' long, is 



widely planted for ornament, growing readily from cuttings, and flowering in 



the winter. [Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd.] 



11. PEDILANTHUS [Mill.] Neck. 

 Fleshy shrub-like plants, with copious milky sap, alternate entire leaves 

 and very irregular oblique involucres in 

 terminal forking cymes. Involucre 2- 

 lipped, the lower lip longer than the 

 upper, enclosing several staminate flow- 

 ers and 1 pistillate; staminate flowers 

 of a single stamen; pistillate flower 

 stalked, the style slender, bearing 3 stig- 

 mas. Capsule splitting into 3 segments. 

 [Greek, slipper-flower.] About 30 species. 

 Type species : Euphorbia tithymaloides L. 



1. Pedilanthus latifolius Millsp. & 



Britton. Slipper-plant. Fiddle-flower. 

 (Fig. 245.) Erect, glabrous, usually 

 much branched, 4°-6° high, the branches 

 zigzag. Leaves ovate, V-2V long, acute 

 at the apex, obtuse or subcordate at 

 the base, the midrib not flanged beneath, 

 the petioles very short; involucres sev- 

 eral or numerous, salmon-colored, about 

 6" long, on slender pedicels 2"-3" long, 

 glabrous. 



Hillside on Castle Point. Naturalized, 

 1912. Commonly cultivated in gardens for 

 interest. Original habitat unknown ; grown 

 in gardens in Florida and the West Indies. 

 Flowers in summer and autumn. 



