EUPHORBIACEAE. 225 



1. Curcas Curcas (L.) Britton & Millspaugh. 



Jatropha Curcas L. Sp. PI. 1006. 1753. 



Curcas indica A. Kich. in Sagra, Hist. Cub. 11: 208. 1850. 



A small tree or sometimes shrubby, 2-5 m. high. Leaves subcordate, 

 roundish, angular or obsoletely 3-5-lobed, glabrous or glabrate, the petiole 

 about as long as the blade; stipules deciduous; inflorescence in contracted 

 cymes; calyx 5-partite; corolla yellow, 5-partite, villo,us within, twice as long 

 as the calyx; stamens 10-15; styles bifid, cohering below; capsule oval, 

 slightly fleshy, 34 cm. long; seeds oblong, nearly '2 cm. long. 



Waste grounds, New Providence : Bermuda ; West Indies ; continental tropical 

 America ; Old World tropics. 



10. ADENOEOPIUM Pohl, PI. Bras. 1: 12. 1827. 



Monoecious or rarely dioecious perennial herbs, or shrubs, with entire 

 lobed or divided leaves, the flowers in cymes. Staminate flowers on the upper 

 parts 6f the cymes, with a corolla-like 5-lobed calyx, 5 distinct petals, the 

 stamens usually several or numerous. Pistillate flowers in the lower forks of 

 the cymes; capsule ovoid or subglobose, easily separating into 2-valved carpels. 

 [Greek, glandular bush.] Eighty species or more of tropical and subtropical 

 distribution. Type species: Adenoropium ellipticum Pohl. 



1. Adenoropium gossypifolium (L.) Pohl, PI. Bras. 1: 16. 1827. 

 Jatropha gossypifolia L. Sp. PI. 1006. 1753. 



Herbaceous; stem 6-10 dm. high, branched. Leaves ciliate or glandu- 

 liferous on the margin,, 3-5-partite or 3-5-lobed, pubescent, glabrescent beneath 

 or glabrous, the segments ovate, pointed, denticulate or entire; petiolar and 

 stipular glands branched; inflorescence in contracted cymes; calyx 5-parted; 

 corolla twice as long as the calyx; petals obovate, deep purple, spreading; 

 stamens 8-12; stigmas 2-branched; capsule truncate at both ends, 3-sulcate, 

 about 1 cm. in diameter. 



Waste grounds, New Providence : Florida ; West Indies ; continental tropical 

 America. 



11. ARGYTHAMNIA iSw. Prodr. 39. 1788. 



Low shrubs containing purple pigment. Leaves simple, entire or dentate, 

 stipulate. Inflorescence in few-flowered, axillary subsessile racemes; flowers 

 short-pedicellate, the 1-3 inferior pistillate. Flowers monoecious. Calyx 4-5- 

 parted, valvate. Petals of staminate flowers 4 or 5 ; stamens 4 or 5 cohering at 

 the very base and surrounding a central rudiment, anthers subglobose, introrse ; 

 discal glands 4 or 5. Styles cut into 38 branches. Capsule 3-coccous. [Greek, 

 silvery bush.] Some 35 species, all American. Type species: Argythamnia 

 candicans Sw. 



Leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate or obovate. 



Leaves entire, subsessile, yellow-sericeous ; styles 3-4-fid. 1. A. sericea. 



Leaves denticulate, petiolate, silvery-sericeous ; styles 2-fid. 2. A. argentea. 



Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate. 3. A. lucayana. 



1. Argythamnia sericea Griseb. PI. Br. W. I. 44. 1859. 



A low leafy shrub entirely covered with silky down. Leaves obovate, 

 mucronate, entire, subsessile, sericeous, 1.5-3 cm. long, 10-17 mm. broad, the 



