544 EUPHORBIACEAE (SPURGE FAMILY) 



7. RICINUS [Tourn.] L. Castor-oil Plant 



Flowers in racemose or panicled clusters, the fertile above, the staminate 

 below. Calyx 5-parted. Stamens very numerous, with repeatedly branching 

 filaments. Styles 3, united at base, each bifid, red. Capsule large. 8-lobed, 

 with 3 larc^e seeds.— A tall stately annual, with very large alternate peltate 

 and palmately 7-11-clett leaves often 3-6 dm. broad. (Ancient Roman name.) 



1. R. COMMUNIS L. — Cultivated for ornament, and sometimes spreading to 

 waste ground. (Introd. from the tropics.) 



8. TRAGIA [Plumier] L. 



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. Capsule 3-celled, 3-lobed, bristly, separating into three 

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

 (ours perennial herbs), 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. urens L. Erect, paniculate-branched, softly hairy, 1.5-3 dm. high; 

 leaves varying from obovate-oblong to narrowly linear, acute at base, obtusely 

 or sinuately few-toothed or lobed, sometimes entire, short-petioled or sessile, 

 paler beneath ; sterile calyx usually 4-parted ; stamens 2. ( T. innocua Walt.) — 

 Dry sandy soil, e. Va. to Fla. and La. May-Aug. — Not stinging. 



2. T. "nepetaefblia Cav. 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 base, coarsely cut-toothed, 

 short-petioled ; sterile calyx usually 3-parted and stamens 3. ( T. urticaefolia 

 Michx.) — Va. (Pursh), and common southw. to Fla. and Tex.; Mo., Kan., 

 and westw. T. ramus a Torr. (T. stylaris MueU. Arg.), with 4-6-parted sterile 

 calyx, 4-6 stamens, and elongated styles, is probably only a variety. — Mo. to 

 Kan. and southwestw. 



3. T. macrocarpa Willd. Twining, somewhat hirsute ; leaves deeply cor- 

 date, ovate, mostly narrowly acuminate, sharply serrate, 6-11 cm. long, all but 

 the uppermost long-petioled ; pod 1.3 cm. broad. (Tl cordata Michx.) — Ky, 

 and Mo. to Ga., Fla., and Tex. 



9. STILLINGIA Garden. 



Flowers monoecious, aggregated in a terminal spike. Petals and glands of 

 the disk none. Calyx 2-3-cleft or -parted ; the divisions imbricated in the bud. 

 Stamens 2 or 3 ; anthers adnate, turned outward. Style thick ; stigmas 3, 

 diverging, simple. Capsule 3-celled, 3-lobed, 3-seeded. Seed carunculate. — 

 Smooth upright plants, with the alternate leaves mostly 2-glandular at base ; 

 the fertile flowers few at the base of the dense sterile spike (rarely separated) ; 

 the bract for each cluster with a large gland on each side. (Named for Dr. B. 

 Stillingfleet, English naturali.st of the 18th century.) 



1. S. sylvatica L. Herbaceous, 3-9 dm. high ; leaves almost sessile, oblong- 

 lanceolate, serrulate ; glands of the spike saucer-shaped. — Sandy and diy soil, 

 Va. to Fla., w. to Kan. and Tex. May-Oct. — Sometimes cafled Qceen"s-root 

 or Qdeen's-delight. 



10. PHYLLANTHUS L. 



Flowers monoecious, axillary. Calyx usually 5-6-parted, imbricated in the 

 bud. Petals none. Stamens mostly 3, erect in the bud, often united. Ovules 

 2 in each cell of the ovary. Capsule depressed ; each carpel 2-valved, 2-seeded. 

 Seeds not carunculate. — Leaves alternate, 2-ranked, with small stipules. (Name 



