EUPHORBIACE^: 375 



And these groups are again sub-divided according 

 to the presence or absence of petals, the aestivation of 

 the calyx, the number of stamens, which are in some 

 few and definite, in others many by branching (p. 220) ; 

 and the nature of the fruit, whether a drupe or, 

 as in most cases, a capsule. In some genera the 

 leaves are opposite or are compound, but these are 

 differences of minor importance, and the members of 

 this large family can nearly always be recognized 

 without any difficulty by the characters given -above 

 as typical. 



The genus EUPHORBIA, which gives the name to the 

 family and is the only representative of it in England 

 and Northern Europe, has very much reduced, and 

 in appearance utterly different, flowers aggregated into 

 small heads which themselves look like small simple 

 flowers (see description of POINSETTIA), and is there- 

 fore not typical of the family. 



Of the common and better known EUPHORBIACE.E, 

 mention may be made of: 



ACALYPHA MARGINATA, Spreng., a very common 

 foliage plant in Indian gardens, the leaves being 

 coloured red, or with a red margin. The flowers are 

 in long pendulous axillary spikes, the staminate flowers 

 very small, (six or seven of them in a cluster less 

 than & inch in diameter), with four valvate sepals and 

 many stamens. The ovary flowers larger, each in 

 the axil of a toothed bract, and consisting of a three- 

 celled ovary with three much -branched styles, and at 

 its base three or more minute sepals, but no petals. 



A. INDICA, Bedd., a common weed. On the spike 

 are ovary flowers at the base, staminate flowers 



