68 MONOECIA— MONANDRIA. Euphorbia. 



12. E. amygdaloides. Wood Spurge. 



Umbel of about six forked branches ; with numerous ax- 

 illary stalks beneath. Bracteas rounded, perfoliate. 

 Leaves obtuse, hairy. Capsule smooth. 



E. amygdaloides. imw. Sp. P?. 662. Am.Acad.v.ZAIQ. Willd. 



V. 2. 924. FL Br. 520. Engl. Bot. v. 4. t. 256. 

 E. sylvatica. Linn. Sp. PI. ed. 1. 463. Jm. Acad. v. 3. 126. Jacq. 



Austr. t. 375. Bull. Fr. t. 95. 

 Tithymalus n. 1045. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 8. 

 T. characias amygdaloides. Bauh. Pin. 290. Raii Syn.3\2. Ger. 



Em. 500./. 

 T. characias primus. Dod.Pejnpt.368.f. Dalech. Hist. 1646. f. 

 T. sylvaticuSjtoto anno folia retinens. Bauh. Hist.v.S.p. 2.671./. 

 T. lunato Acre. Column. Ecphr. v. 2. 56. t. 57. 

 Characias amygdaloides. Lob. Ic. 360. f. 



In woods, groves, and thickets, common. 



Perennial. March, April. 



Root branching, knotty, somewhat woody. Herb milky, soft and 

 downy. Stems several, rather shrubby, biennial, simple, leafy, 

 round ; purple in the lower part when stripped of its leaves ; 

 many-flowered above. Leaves scattered, numerous, spreading, 

 stalked, entire, oblong or obovate, obtuse. Umbel usually of 

 5 or 6 simply forked branches, accompanied beneath by nume- 

 rous similar branches, solitary from the bosoms of the paler, or 

 purplish, more remote, upper leaves. Bracteas yellowish, pale, 

 combined, rounded, pointless, nearly or quite smooth. Nect. 4, 

 crescent-shaped, acute, yellow. Caps, elliptical, smooth. 



Sometimes each bractea has a minute point. On this Linnaeus 

 founded the character of his original E. sylvatica, which how- 

 ever is a very trivial variety. What he afterwards took for syl- 

 vatica is segetalis. For ascertaining this I am obliged to my 

 friend Prof DeCandolle, and at his persuasion I do not scruple 

 to unite amygdaloides and sylvatica, whose descriptions and 

 figures are generally much confounded by authors. Haller went 

 far enough to discover this ; but declined pursuing the investi- 

 gation of numerous species, not natives of either Switzerland or 

 Britain, involved in the confusion. 



13. E. Characias. Red Shrubby Spurge. 



Umbel of numei-ous forked downy branches; with many 

 axillary crowded stalks beneath. Bracteas somewhat 

 pointed, perfoliate. Leaves lanceolate, downy. Capsule 

 hairy. 



E. Characias. Linn. Sp. PI. 662. Willd. v.2. 925. Fl.Br.52\. 

 Engl. Bot. V. 7. t. 442. Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 89. CoU. v. 1.57. 



