EUPATORIUM 



EUPHORBIA 



1167 



1436. Eupatorium urticae- 

 folium ( X H) 



23. album, Linn. Rough-hairy: Ivs. opposite, lance- 

 oblong, coarsely serrate, essentially sessile, veiny: 

 involucral scales scarious-margined : florets white. 

 L. I., southward near the coast. Somewhat attrac- 

 tive for border planting and specially suited to poor 

 sandy soil. 



24. sessilifdlium, Linn. UPLAND BONESET. Lvs. 

 oblong-lanceolate, gradually tapering almost from the 



rounded sessile or nearly 

 sessile base to the apex: 

 heads 5-fld., white. Vt. to 

 Mo. and southward. A trim, 

 smooth highly attractive 

 hardy species. Thrives best 

 in limy alluvial soil. 



25. urticsefSlium, Reichard 

 (E. ageraimdes, Linn. f.). 

 WHITE SNAKEROOT. Fig. 

 1436. Lvs. opposite, thin, 

 long-stalked, ovate with 

 broad base, acuminate, 

 coarsely and sharply serrate, 

 green on both sides: heads 

 small in loose but ample 

 clusters; florets bright white. 

 E. N. Amer. Mixed woods, 

 common. Neat, smoothish, 

 branching herb, 2-4 ft. high. 



One of the best of the per- 

 fectly hardy summer-bloom- 

 ing species. 



26. aromaticum, Linn. 

 Much like the preceding but 



usually hairy: Ivs. thickish and blunt or scarcely 

 pointed, blunt-toothed: later-flowering, not aromatic. 

 Mass, and southward near the coast. Suited to very 

 sandy soil. Var. melissoides, Gray (E. Frdseri and E. 

 cordifdlium, Hort.). Slender, roughish, strict: heads 5- 

 12-fld.: Ivs. subcordate, ovate or oblong, obtuse, the 

 petioles often very short. S. E. U. S. Also suited to 

 poor and sandy soil, but more tender than the typical 

 form. 



The following species are said to have been recently intro. into 

 European horticulture and to promise well: E. deUtAdeum, Jacq. 

 A soft-wooded half -shrub with opposite triangular-hastate crenately 

 toothed Ivs. 3-5 in. long and somewhat pale and slightly velvety 

 beneath, the basal lobes widely spreading acute: If. -stalks 1-3 in. 

 long: heads of rosy purple fls. in thyrsoid panicles; involucral 

 scales linear, very sharp, scarcely imbricated. S. Mex. A glasshouse 

 species with striking foliage. E. herbaceum, Greene (E. arizoni- 

 cum, Hort.). An erect smooth or merely pulverulent perennial 

 1-3 ft. high, with opposite triangular-ovate pale green Ivs. 1-3 in. 

 long with rounded basal lobes, toothed sides, and rather short but 

 slender stalks: fls. white; heads in broad rounded terminal clusters. 

 S. W. U. S. Half-hardy and suited to dry places. E. jap6nicum, 

 Thunb. Erect perennial resembling E. cannabinum, with dull pur- 

 plish to greenish white fls. in flat clusters: lower Ivs. deeply 3-parted, 

 the upper simple: not very attractive. g ^ R O BINSON. 



EUPHORBIA (classical name; said by Pliny to be 

 in honor of King Juba's physician; possibly from the 

 Greek for fat). Euphorbiacese. MILKWEED (improperly) 

 WOLFS-MILK. SPURGE. The last name, most often 

 applied to the genus as a whole, belongs more properly 

 to the common herbaceous species and especially to E. 

 Lathyris. Of very diverse habit, from succulent cactus- 

 like trees to low or prostrate herbaceous weeds; planted 

 mostly in the open, but some kinds grown under glass 

 as oddities and some as florist's plants. 



The genus is characterized by the single pedicellate, 

 pistilate fl. without floral envelopes, or with only a 

 rudimentary calyx, surrounded by numerous staminate 

 fls., each consisting of a single stamen separated from 

 its pedicel only by a joint; the whole inn. surrounded 

 by a more or less cup-shaped involucre with 5 lobes 

 and 1-5 glands is called a cyathium. The involucre 

 is regular or nearly so; the glands free from one 

 another: the fr. an explosive caps., with 3 carunculate 

 seeds; the staminate fls. are usually subtended by 



minute bracts. One of the largest plant genera, of not 

 less than 700 and probably over 1,000 species, occurring 

 in most temperate and tropical regions. Many are 

 desert plants and the greater number grow in dry and 

 sterile places. Euphorbia is distinguished from the 

 nearest related genera, Pedilanthus and Synadenium, 

 by its regular or nearly regular involucre, which in 

 Pedilanthus is protuberant on one side of the base and 

 contains the glands, and by the free involucral glands 

 which in Synadenium are united into a ring. Some of 

 the fleshy species are very similar to succulent cacti 

 and Asclepiadaceae. One long grown under the name of 

 E. pendula, Boiss., is a Sarcostemma according to N. 

 E. Brown. For E. tithymaloides, see Pedilanthus; for 

 E. Grantii, Hort., and E. arborea, Hort., see Synadenium. 



Monographed by Boissier in DeCandolle's Prodromus, 

 15, pt. 2 (1862). See local floras and Norton, Rept. 

 Mo. Bot. Gard. 11, for native species. See also Fobe, 

 in Monatsschrift fur Kakteenkunde, 8:42 (1898) and 

 Berger, Sukkulente Euphorbien, a manual of the 

 cactus-like species in cultivation. The recent work 

 of N. E. Brown of Kew in Flora of Tropical Africa 

 and Flora Capensis describes and gives keys to practi- 

 cally all the African species, which include nearly all 

 the succulent ones, both wild and cultivated. Although 

 the vegetative form varies remarkably, so that the 

 various sections of the genus are considered of generic 

 rank by many authors, the floral characters are very 

 similar and so inconspicuous as to be of little impor- 

 tance generally in a horticultural work. 



Most of the species have abundant milky juice, and 

 the cactiform kinds have been thus distinguished from 

 cacti, but many cacti also have milky juice. The juice 

 of many species is acrid-poisonous, especially if it comes 

 in contact with mucous membranes or open sores. The 

 juice from some of the species is used in medicine as a 

 purgative. 



Many of the fleshy species are cultivated by lovers of 

 succulents for their curious shapes; and a few are valu- 

 able for their ornamental foliage. The flowers are usu- 

 ally too minute to be noticeable. Some, like E. corollata 

 (Fig. 1437), E. maculata, E. Cyparissias and E. margi- 

 nata, are weeds in America, but not troublesome. The 

 great majority of the species are insignificant herbs. 

 The species are remarkably free from injurious insects, 

 and are rarely attacked by a few fungi. 



The fleshy species are grown much the same as cacti, 

 but the culture is less difficult, and they do well with 

 warmer treatment. In winter they are kept in a dry 

 and cool house, 50 to 55 F., with good light and little 

 water. Drips must be carefully avoided. In summer 

 the pots should be plunged outdoors in hot dry situa- 

 tions, with a moderate supply of water and espe- 

 cially good drainage. It is better to protect them from 

 continued rain, but most 

 species do well without 

 this. The more fleshy 

 species, like E. Caput- 

 Medusse, E. mammillaris, 

 and E. meloformis, require 

 more heat and better care 

 than the others. They 

 have to be watered with 

 great care in winter. The 

 air of most greenhouses is 

 too damp for them if the 

 requisite low temperature 

 is maintained. The winter 

 conditions of air and tem- 

 perature in ordinary liv- 

 ing - rooms make them 



iHpql Cm- trip siirvnlpnt 1437 ' Cyathium of Euphorbia 



succulent corollata <x'2). The pistillate 



euphorbias, bpecies like flower is at 8, surrounded by 



E. neriifolia need water several staminate flowers arising 



in thp trrnwincr oonarm nnH above the involucral glanda 



in tne growing season and with their five oblong spreading 



dry Conditions after the petaloid appendages. No. 3. 



