406 EUPHORBIACEJE. (SPURGE FAMILY.) 



Fields and around dwellings, Florida, and northward. July - Sept. Stem 

 1 - 2 high. Leaves, with the petiole, 4' - 5' long. 



2. A. gracilens, Gray. Annual, downy ; stem slender, erect or ascend- 

 ing; leaves short-petioled, lanceolate, obscurely serrate or entire; staminate 

 spikes mostly many-flowered and longer than the ovate-serrate or toothed 

 bracts, with 1 -* 3 pistillate flowers at the base ; capsule hairy. Sterile soil, 

 Florida, and northward. July - Sept. Stem 6' -18' high. Leaves I'-l^' 

 long. 



3. A. corchorifolia, Willd. Perennial ; stems several from a thick and 

 woody root, prostrate, pubescent, simple or sparingly branched ; leaves short- 

 petioled, ovate and oblong, obtuse, crenate, hairy ; pistillate flowers numerous, 

 crowded at the base of the slender staminate spike, each surrounded by a 

 round-ovate hairy toothed bract ; capsule bristly; seed ovoid, smooth. South 

 Florida. Stems 4' -6' long. Leaves rigid, 6" -8" long. Spikes mostly 

 terminal. 



* * Staminate and pistillate flowers on separate spikes. 



4. A. Caroliniana, "Walt. Annual ; stem erect, much branched, pubes- 

 cent ; leaves thin, smooth, cordate-ovate, sharply serrate, long-peioled ; stami- 

 nate spike lateral, small, the minute white flowers pedicelled ; pistillate spike 

 terminal, stout, many-flowered ; bracts cut into several subulate lobes ; capsule 

 bristly ; seeds silvery, pitted. Cultivated ground, Florida to Mississippi, and 

 northward. July - Sept. Stem 1 - 2 high. Leaves 2' - 3' long. 



6. TRAGIA, Plum. 



Flowers monoecious, apetalous, in slender racemes. Sterile flowers few or 

 numerous, caducous. Calyx 3 - 4-parted. Stamens 2-4, with short and sepa- 

 rate filaments. Fertile flowers few or solitary at the base of the raceme. Calyx 

 5 - 8-parted. Style 3-cleft : stigmas entire. Capsule bristly, of three globose 

 1-celled, 1-seeded, 2-valved carpels. Pubescent or bristly herbs, with watery 

 juice. Leaves alternate. Kacemes opposite the leaves and terminal. Bracts 

 small, entire, persistent. Flowers minute, greenish. 



1. T. urens, L. Low, downy or hairy; stem at length much branched; 

 leaves nearly sessile, varying from broadly ovate or oblong-ovate, and serrate or 

 toothed throughout, or only at the apex, to linear and entire, obtuse, paler be- 

 neath ; racemes shorter than the leaves and few-flowered, or elongated and 

 many-flowered. (T. linearifolia, Ell., the narrow-leaved form.) Dry sandy 

 soil, Florida, and northward. May -Aug. 1J. Stem 6'- 12' high. Leaves 

 1'- 2' long. 



2. T. urticifolia, Michx. Bristly, with stinging hairs ; stem erect, spar- 

 ingly branched ; leaves petioled, deltoid-ovate or oblong, coarsely serrate, trun- 

 cate or cordate at the broad base, pale beneath , racemes shorter than the leaves, 

 the sterile flowers somewhat crowded ; capsule very bristly. Dry soil, Florida 

 to North Carolina, and westward. June -Sept. U Stems l-2 high. 

 Leaves 1'- 2' long. 



