EUPHORBIACK.^.. (SPUKGIC FAMILY.) 435 



* * * Pcrcnttials or annuals ; ours with evtire and scalteirxl leavef:, only the Jloral ones 



in the unibfl-like iiiflorcitcence whurled or op/)osite and of different shape: glands 

 of the involucre mostli/ 4, crescent-shaped or 2-horned. 



I- Sf.eds smooth and dark-colored : perennials, with runniufj roolstocks. 



19. E. EsuLA, L. Stems clustered (1° high) ; leaves lanceolate or linear ; the 

 floral (yellowish) broadlj/ heart-shaped, mucronate ; umbel divided into many rays, 

 then forking; glands short-horned (brown); jsods smoothish and granular. — 

 Essex County, Massachusetts, Oakes. June. (Adv. from Eu.) 



20. E. CvPARfssiAS, L. Stems densely clustered (6'- 10' high) ; stem-lcares 

 liiirar, crowded, the floral ones heart-shaped; umbel many-rayed; glands crescent- 

 shaped; [¥)ds granular. — Escaped from gardens to roadsides, in a few places in 

 Kew England. (Adv. from Eu.) 



+~ H- Seeds sculptured, ash-colored : pod smooth: aruutals or biennials. 



21. E. Peplus, L. Erect or ascending (.5' -10' high) ; leaves petioled, thin, 

 round-ol)Ovate, the upper floral ones ovate ; umbel 3-rayed, then forking ; glands 

 long-horned ; lobes of the pod 2-wing-crestsd on the back ; seeds 2-grooied on the 

 inner face, pitted on the back (scarcely over half a line long). — Waste places east- 

 ward : not common. July, Aug. 



22. E. commutata, Engelm. Stems branched from a commonly de- 

 cumbent base (6' -12' high); leaves obovate, obtuse; the upper all sessile, the 

 upper floral ones roundish-dilated, broader than long.; umbel 3-forked ; glands 

 with slender horns ; pod ohtusely angled, creslless ; seeds ovate, jiittfd all over (a line 

 long). (E. Ohiutica, Stcudel ^' Hochslelter.) — Along streams and shady slopes, 

 from Virginia towards the mountains to Kentucky, Wisconsin, and westward- 

 May, June. — Leaves often persistent over the winter on sterile shoots, turning 

 red. Larger i^ all its parts than E. Peplus, with which it has been confounded ; 

 but the characters of the pod and seeds readily distinguish it. 



* * * * A glabrous annual or biennial, with entire opposite and decussate leaves, an 



umbelliform inflorescence, and short-horned glands : seeds carunculate. 



23. E. LAtiiyris, L. Stem stout (2° -3° high) ; leaves thick, linear or ob- 

 long, the floral ones oblong-ovate and heart-shaped ; umbel 4-i-ayed, then forking. 

 — Sparingly escaped from gardens, where it is common. (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. JATROPHA, L. (Cnidoscolus, Pohl., Ed. 2.) 



Flowers monoecious, rarely dioecious, in a terminal open forking cyme; the 

 fertile ones usually in the lower forks. Calyx corolla-like, in the staminate 

 flowers often salver-shaped, S-lobed ; in the pistillate, 5-parted, imbricated or 

 convolute in the bud. Corolla of 5 distinct or apparently united petals, or in 

 our species none. Glands of the disk opposite the calyx-lobes. Stamens 10-30, 

 in 2 or more whorls : filaments monadelphous at the base. Ovary mostly 3- 

 celled : styles 3, united below, their summits once or twice forked. Pod 3-celled, 

 3-seedcd, separating into 3 two-valved carpels. Seed carunculate. — Perennial 

 lierbaccous or shrubby pla»its, chiefly trojjical, witli alternate mostly long- 

 pctioled palnuitely-veined leaves, and stipules. — Our species is of the section 

 Cnidoscolus; of ])lants mostly armed with stinging bristles. (Name said by 

 Linnaeus to be formed of larpui/, a rcmcdij, and (^ayu, to cat.) 



