SPURGE FAMILY 



(Euph&rbiacece) 



Herbs with milky juice, often poisonous; flowers of different 

 sexes on the same or different plants. 



GOLOXDRIXA. RATTLESXAKE WEED (Euphorbia albomar- 

 ginata, T. & G.). Flowers inconspicuous, in a cup-shaped 

 involucre having the appearance of a calyx, the numerous 

 male flowers consisting each of a single stamen, and the soli- 

 tary female of a 3-celled ovary elevated and pendent upon a 

 long footstalk; involucre 4 to 5-lobed, with alternating maroon- 

 colored glands, margined with white or rosy appendages that 

 resemble petals. Leaves small and roundish, heart-shaped 

 at base, with a thin whitish edge. A low or prostrate, many- 

 stemmed little plant forming round mats upon the dry ground 

 in the Southern California foothills and mountains, very com- 

 mon, and blooming from April on through the summer. 



There are several species of Euphorbia, more or less alike 

 in general appearance, that go under the name of Rattlesnake 

 Weed, or, among Spanish-speaking folk, Golondrina. They 

 have a considerable repute as antidotes for rattlesnake bites. 

 The leaves are pounded and bound wet on the wound. 

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