430 KurnoRBiACK>E. (spurge family.) 



OnpER 07. EUPIIOltBI.kCEiE. (Spurge Family.) 



Plaiits usiinl'i/ iritli a viilkij acri'l juice, and moncccious or dioecious Jl on-' 

 crs, mostly apdalous, sometimes achlamydeous (occasionally polypelalous or 

 monopetaloiis) ; the ovary free ami usually 3-ceUed, with a single or some- 

 times a pair of ovules hanging from the summit of each cell ; stigmas or 

 branches of the style as many or twice as many as the cells; fruit commonly 

 a 3-lobed pod, the lobes or carpels separating elastically from a persistent 

 axis and elastically 2-valved ; seed anatropous ; embryo straight, almost as 

 long as and the Jlat cotyledons mostly as wide as the fleshy or oily albumen. 

 Stipules often present. — A vast family in the warmer parts of the world 

 (the acrid juice poisonous) ; most numerously represented in Northern 

 countries by the genus Euphorbia, which has very remarkable reduced 

 (lowers enclosed in an involucre that imitates a calyx. Our last genus 

 belongs to the Box-Family, which some botanists of late separate from the 

 Euphorbiacefc, on account of the rha]jhe being on the outer or dorsal side 

 of the suspended ovule, &c. 



* Seeds and ovules only one in each cell. 

 t- St.iminate and pistillate flowers both destitute of calyx as well as corolla, and contained in 

 the same cup-shaped involucre, which imitates a calyx, — the whole liable to be mistaken 

 for a sinjrle flower. 



1. Eiiphoi-bia. Involucre surrounding many staminate flowers (each of a single naked 



stamen) and one pistillate flower (a 3-lobed pistil). 



•^ •<- Staminate and pistillate flowers both with a calyx, not involucrate. 

 ++ Stamens erect in the hud. 



2. Jatrophn. Flowers cymose or panicled. Calyx corolla-like, 5-cleft ; the lobes imbri- 



cated in the bud. Stamens 10 or more. 

 S. Stillingta. Flowers in a spike, pistillate at the base. Calyx 2-3-partcd, the lobes im- 

 bricated in the bud. Stamens 2 or 3. Stigmas or branches of the style 3, simple. 



4. Acalypha. Flowers spiked or glomerate, the pistillate in the axil of bracts. Calyx 3-5- 



parted ; in staminate flowers valvate in the bud. Stamens mostly 8 : anthers with 2 

 separate pendulous cells. Stylos or stigmas 3, dissected. 



5. Tragla. Flowers in racemes, pistillate at the base. Calyx in staminate flowers valvate In 



the bud. Anther-cells united. Styles united at the base, simple. 

 ++ ++ Stamens inflexed in the bud. 



6. Croton. Flowers spiked or glomerate. Ovary and fruit 3- (rarely 2-4-) celled. 



7. Crotonopsis. Flowers scattered on the branchlcts. Ovary and fruit 1-celled. 



* * Seeds and ovules 2 in each cell. Calyx imbricated in the bud. 



8. Pliyllaitllius. Flowers axillary. Stamens mostly 3, and usually monadelphous. 



9. Pachysaitdrn. Flowers spiked. Calyx 4-i)arted. Stamens 4, separate. 



1. EUPHORBIA, L. Spurge. 



Flowers monoecious, incliuled in a ciip-shnped 4-.5-lobcd involucre (floiner of 

 older authors) lesenibling a calyx or corolla, and usually bcarino- larj^e thick 

 {jiands (with or without pctiil-like mar;j;ins) at its sinuses. Sterile flowers 

 numerous and lining the base of the involucre, each from the axil of a little 

 bract, and consisting merely of a single stamen jointed on a pedicel like the fila- 

 ment : anthcr-cclls globular, separate. Fertile flower solitary in the middle of 



