EUPHORBIACEJE. (gPUltGE FAMILY.) 437 



two cells of the ovary abortive.) Sandy dry soil, Rhode Island to Illinois, 

 and common southward. 



* * Fruit echinate with soft bristly green projections : seeds rough-wrinkled. 

 2. A. Caroliniana, Walt., Ell. Leaves thin, ovate-cordate, sharply and 

 closely serrate-toothed, abruptly acuminate, long-petioled ; sterile spikes short, 

 axillary ; the fertile ones mostly terminal and elongated, its bracts deeply cut 

 into many linear lobes. (A. ostryaefolia, Riddell.) New Jersey (Princeton, 

 Torrey), Ohio, and southward. 



5. TRAGIA, Plumier. TRAGIA. 



Flowers monoecious, in racemes, apetalous. Ster. FL Calyx 3-5- (chiefly 

 3-) parted, valvate in the bud. Stamens 2 or 3 : filaments short : anther-cells 

 united. Fert. FL Calyx 3 - 8-parted, persistent. Style 3-cleft or 3-parted ; 

 the branches 3, simple. Pod 3-celled, 3-lobed, bristly, separating into three 

 2-valved 1-seeded carpels. Seeds not carunculate. Erect or climbing plants 

 (perennial herbs in U. S.), pubescent or hispid, sometimes stinging, with mostly 

 alternate stipulate leaves ; the small-flowered racemes terminal or opposite the 

 leaves ; the sterile flowers above, the few fertile at the base, all with small bracts. 

 (Named for the early herbalist Bock, latinized Tragus.) 



1. T. innocua, Walt. Erect, paniculate-branched, softly hairy-pubescent 

 ( 6' -12' high) ; leaves varying from obovate-oblong to narrowly linear, acute at 

 the base, obtusely or sinuately few-toothed or lobed, sometimes entire, short-peti- 

 oled or sessile, paler beneath; stamens 2. (T. urens, L., having been discarded 

 as a false name, the next oldest, and a good one, is adopted, rather than the 

 recent one of T. discolor, Mtiller.) Dry sandy soil, E. Virginia and south- 

 ward. May - Aug. 



2. T. urticaefolia, Michx. Erect or reclining or slightly twining, hirsute 

 with stinging hairs ; leaves ovate-lanceolate or triangular-lanceolate, or the lower 

 ovate, all somewhat cordate or truncate at the base, coarsely cut-toothed, short-peti- 

 oled. Virginia (Pursh), and common southward. 



3. T. macrocarpa, Willd. Twining, somewhat hirsute, not stinging ; 

 leaves deeply cordate, ovate, sharply serrate (3' long), all but the uppermost long- 

 petioled (pod ' broad). (T. cordata, Michx.) Kentucky (Michaux,) and south- 

 ward. Apparently quite distinct. 



6. CROTON, L. CROTON. 



Flowers monoecious, rarely dioecious, mostly in terminal spike-like racemes or 

 spikes. Ster. FL Calyx 5- (rarely 4-6-) parted; the divisions lightly imbri- 

 cated or nearly valvate in the bud. Petals usually present, but mostly small or 

 rudimentary, hypogynous, as many as the divisions of the calyx. Glands or 

 lobes of the disk as many as and alternate with the petals. Receptacle usually 

 hairy. Stamens 5 or more : filaments with the anthers inflexed in the bud. 

 Fert. FL Calyx 5 - 10-cleft or parted, nearly as in the staminate flowers : but 

 petals none or minute rudiments. Ovary mostly 3-celled, rarely 2-celled, with 

 a single ovule in each cell : styles ^is many, from once to thrice 2-cleft. Pod 3- 

 ( rarely 2-4-) celled, separating into as many 2-valved 1-seeded carpels. Seeds 



