EUPHORBIACE&. 28; 



C. UMBELLATA (False Toad-flax}. Very smooth ; stem erect, slender, 

 branching above ; leaves oblong, entire, alternate ; flowers small, greenish 

 white, in small clustered umbels of 3-5, each cluster with 4 deciduous bracts. 

 In dry and rocky grounds, 6'-i2 ( high. June. 



APETALOUS EXOGENS WITH IMPERFECT FLOWERS. 

 Order LXXIII. EUPHORBIACE^: (Spurge Family). 



Herbs, shrubs, or even trees, often with a milky juice. Leaves 

 opposite, alternate, or verticillate, usually simple, often stipulate. 

 Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Staminate and pistillate flowers 

 usually separate, but often combined and surrounded by a com- 

 mon, mostly petaloid involucre, the staminate being reduced to a 

 single stamen, and the pistillate to a compound pistil, destitute of 

 calyx, and supported on a conspicuous jointed pedicel. Calyx, 

 when present, several-lobed. Petals sometimes present, and as 

 many as the calyx-lobes. Anthers 2-celled. Ovary free from the 

 calyx, when the latter is present, consisting of 2-9 more or less 

 united carpels, attached to a prolongation of the axis. Styles as 

 many as the carpels, distinct, often 2-cleft. Fruit a capsule sepa- 

 rating into its component carpels. 



f Apparent flowers perfect Euphorbia. 



EUPHORCIACE^E. 



Flowers imperfect 



Evergreen shrubs Buxus. 

 Tall annuals Ricinus. 



Low weeds Acalypha. 



I. Euphorbia. Flowers monoecious, in a usually petaloid, 4-5- 

 parted involucre. Sterile flowers numerous, included within the in- 

 volucre, consisting of a single stamen on a jointed pedicel, and furnished 

 with a bract at base. Anthers composed of 2 separate, globular cells. 

 Fertile flower solitary, in the center, pedicellate, consisting of a 3-lobed, 

 3-celled ovary, destitute of a calyx. Styles 3, each 2 -parted. Capsule 

 consisting of 3 i-seeded carpels, opening each by 2 valves. Herbs with 

 a milky juice. 



1. E. LATHYRIS (Caper Spurge}. Smooth ; stem erect, stout, branch- 

 ing ; leaves linear-lanceolate, somewhat acute, entire, sessile ; leaves of the 

 involucre oblong-ovate, cordate at base, acuminate ; fruit and seeds smooth. 

 Stem 2-3 feet high. July-September. 



2. E. HYPERICIFOLIA (Spurge}. Stem smooth, nearly erect, with spread- 

 ing branches ; leaves opposite, oval-oblong, obliquely cordate at base, 3-5- 



