THE SPURGE FAMILY. 303 



have united filaments. Styles of the fertile flowers three, parted to near the base. 

 Least's: alternate, with long hairy petioles, rounded, cordate, palmately i)arted into 

 three to five oval segments, pointed at the apex, entire or roughly toothed, thin, 

 and having scattered along the veins of both surfaces sharp glass-like prickles. 

 Stems: simple or branched, erect and bristly with sharp-pointed hairs. 



In the quaint, common name of this plant, " tread-softly," there is 

 breathed a wise precaution, for so beset is it with lustrous hairs as tine and 

 sharp as spun glass that it might well cause annoyance to those who would 

 ruthlessly trample it down. In dry, old fields near Jacksonville we were at- 

 tracted by its strange, shiny look and found that although late in September 

 a few of its blossoms still lingered in blow. 



QUEEN'S DELIGHT. SILVER=LEAF. 



Stilling I a sylvdtica. 



Flmvers : monoecious, growing in terminal, upright spikes from the ends of the 

 stems; each flower being subtended by a bract with small glands at its base. 

 Fertile flowers borne below the sterile ones. Cu/j'x : cup-shaped; two to three- 

 lobed. Petals : none. Capsule : rounded, green ; two to three-valved. Leaves : 

 alternate, obovate or elliptic, occasionally obtuse at the apex, tapering and sessile 

 at the base; finely serrate or crenate, rather thick, smooth. Stems : one to four 

 feet high, erect, leafy, smooth, branching from the base. Koot : woody, thick. 



Perhaps the queen's delight is more generally known by its practical name 

 of queen's root, for very early in the spring many people sally forth quite 

 oblivious to any other sensation than that of collecting its roots to later use 

 in medicinal ways. It is, however, quite an interesting bloomer, and often 

 it may be noticed that the pistillate flowers at the bases of the spike have 

 developed into good-sized capsules, while still a yellowish glow proclaims 

 that the staminate ones linger in blow. In light, dry soil it grows best. 



S. aqudtica.^ another species occurring as an inhabitant of ponds in the 

 pine, barrens from Florida to South Carolina, is a shrubby plant. Usually 

 its spikes of bloom are short and the capsules at their bases small and 

 smooth. 



Sapiuni scbifcrum represents another extreme, and was originally des- 

 cribed and regarded as a member of the genus Stillingia. It is a tree of 

 from twenty to forty feet high. Along the coast from Georgia to South 

 Carolina it is known and in June and July sends forth its thickly flowered 

 spikes of bloom. It has been introduced in this country from China. 



