SPURGE FAMILY 



EUPHORBIACEAE 



FLOWERING SPURGE 



Euphorbia corollata L. 



The Flowering Spurge is the prettiest and most conspicuous 

 Spurge in the state. It is frequently used as a cut flower under 

 the name White Forget-me-not. It is common everywhere in 



rich or sandy soil from 

 Massachusetts to Ontario 

 and Minnesota, south to 

 Florida and Texas, and 

 it blooms from July to 

 October. 



This Spurge is perennial 

 by a long stout underground 

 stem. The upright stem is 

 10-36 inches high, usually 

 unbranched up to the umbellike in- 

 florescence, and contains an abundance 

 of milky juice. The lower leaves are 

 alternate, those of the inflorescence are 

 opposite, and usually those just below 

 the umbel are whorled. 



The flowers are clustered within a 

 5-lobed involucre that is white and 

 resembles a corolla. It bears 5 large 

 yellowish green glands between the 

 lobes at the base. Several staminate 

 flowers line the base of the involucre, 

 each consisting merely of a single 

 stamen. The i pistillate flower is in the 

 middle of the involucre and consists of 

 a 3-lobed and 3-celled ovary, and 3 

 styles which are 2-lobed also. 



The Spreading Spurge, Euphorbia humistrata Engelm., is a 

 species very common on lawns. It often kills the grass and in 

 autumn becomes reddish and causes unsightly spots. It grows 

 prostrate ; the involucres are small and, unlike those of the 

 Flowering Spurge, inconspicuous. The leaves are elliptical to 

 obovate, toothed toward the apex and sparsely hairy underneath. 

 The pod fruits are sharply angled and minutely covered with 

 short soft hairs. The seeds are red, ovate, blunt angled, minutely 

 roughened and one twenty-fifth of an inch long. 



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