288 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 
severally split elastically into 2 valves. Seeds 1 in each carpel. Poly- 
morphous /erbs, with rey aan milky juice ; peduncles lateral or terminal, 
often in umbellate clus 
Jor 1. Leaves opposite, i serrate, often hair: and — furnished —_ 
awl-shaped or scaly stipules ; stems much bra oehad ai res in the forks 
3; seeds transversely pater ann 
1, E. macula’ta, L. Prostrate; peduncles ae the petioles, 
crowded in lateral clusters ; ote acutely angled, puberulent ; seeds ash- 
colored, sharply 4-angled. 
Sporrep Evrnorsra. Milk Purslane. Spotted Spurge. 
Stem 6-12 inches long, much branched from the base and _lying close to the ground, 
Leaves 14 - 34 an inch long, very obliqu 
with a dark purple spot above ; petioles scarcely a line in length. Involucre one its 
inute glands with a petal-like, whi ite or parpliah, somewhat crenate margin. 
ate places and cultivated grounds. July —October 
s. Very common pel Aa especially in Elles corn-fields, where 
7 ies close to the ground, branching from the root in every direction, 
forming a close mat. 
3 E. h L. Ascending or erect; peduncles longer than 
the Sh agin collected ate loose, _ cymes ; pod obtusely angled, smooth ; 
seeds blackish, obtusely angled 
HypericuM-LEAVED RuPaociea: Black Purslane. Large Spotted 
Spurge. Hye-bright. 
Stem 9-18 inches high, rather slender and leaning as if top-heavy, with gn g oes 
omous spreading bran nehes s above, smoothish, often purple. ves half an inch 
an inch and a half long, obliquely ovate-oblong or sub-falcate, "Tatar obtuse, sharply 
serrate, ih longish entire 4 elgg! Bo base 0! the rounded or convex side, more 0} r less 
ften stained 
scarcely a line in length. Cluster s of flowers axillary and dichotomal, amg ic ies 
small a tinee = a the ends of — | camino appendages of the involucre min white 
or purple —— igo ee 
Sandy fiel es, pore Wis, &c.:; throughout the United States. FU. July- 
ines a | oneeas Shee - October 
Obs. This species is very common in dry pas fields—especially in 
thinnish sandy soils,—and has been suspected of bein the cause of saliva- 
tion, or ris with which horses are often affected, in the la 
Bo 
al 
summer. I cannot say how much foundation there may be for 
the suspicion oe have often observed that horses are not apt to eat 
much of any acrid or unpalatable oe —and are, moreover, very r 
ip eng — herbs from among those which are not so. This 
lant orthless, obnoxious little weed,—and I believe is best ney 
— od ee the soil, and choking it out by more valuable 
Besides the pigc he? noticed there are several o 
*. 
thers, both na 
naturalized, to be found in various A gs of the country, but Bog he 
“not come within t ‘is otis of this wor pecacuan’ 
perennial species with a large root which possesses pow 
