EUPHORBIACEAE (SPURGE FAMILY) 267 



branches extended in all directions, red where exposed to the 

 light but green underneath. Leaves opposite, oblong, from a 

 quarter-inch to nearly an inch in length, short-petioled, very finely 

 toothed, usually with a purplish brown 

 spot near the center ; stipules nearly linear, 

 tipped with a fringe of bristles. Flowers 

 on peduncles about as long as the petioles, 

 the involucres bearing four minute, cup- 

 shaped glands with narrow red appendages. 

 Pods angled and hairy, with ash-gray, 

 four-angled seeds which are a frequent im- 

 purity in the seeds of grass and clover. 



Means of control 



In cultivated ground, persistent hoe- 

 cutting as soon as the first flowers appear. 

 Grasslands badly infested should be put 



under cultivation, the ground being fer- 



. ~ tiG. 187. bpotted 



tihzed well before reseedmg heavily to Spurge (Euphorbia macu- 



grass or clover. &**) x 2- 



SNOW-ON-THE-MOUNTAIN 



Euphorbia margindta, Pursh. 



Other English name: White-margined Spurge. 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : May to September. 



Seed-time: June to October. 



Range: Minnesota to Colorado, southward to Texas, spreading 



eastward to Ohio ; introduced in Eastern States and freely 



escaping. 

 Habitat : Dry soil ; fields, pastures, waste places. 



The handsomest of our native Spurges, but dangerous to handle, 

 as the copious milky juice when in contact with the skin causes a 

 swelling and eruption similar to that produced by Poison Ivy; 

 persons unacquainted with its quality often pluck it for its beauty 

 and suffer for it. Honey made from its flowers is poisonous and 

 unfit to use, acting as a violent emetic and purge. 



Stem rather stout, two to three feet tall, erect, slightly grooved, 



