110 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
SPECIES XIL—EUPHORBIA PORTLANDICA. Lim. 
Prats MCCLXIV. 
E. segetalis, Benth. Handbk. Brit. Bot. ed. ii. p. 408 (non Linn.). 
Rootstock somewhat woody, branched only where it emerges from 
the ground, not creeping. Stems rather slender, erect or ascending, 
some of them short and barren, others longer and flowering ; the latter 
simple or with a few flowering branches, or sometimes with numerous 
flowering branches beneath the umbel. Leaves scattered, crowded at 
the base of the flowering stems and on the barren shoots, but often 
distant in the upper part of the former, sessile, strapshaped-oblanceo- 
late, or in the upper part of the flowering stems obovate, entire, acute, 
or on the flowering stems obtuse and apiculate. Umbel-rays 5, more 
rarely 2, 3, or 4, three or four times 2-furcate. Bracts ovate-deltoid 
or rhombic-ovate, apiculate, not connate. Involucral glands lunate, 
with 2 long incurved slender cusps (rarely absent). Capsule globular, 
3-lobed; cocca rounded on the back, with 2 narrow bands of raised 
points, one along each side of the very faint dorsal furrow. Seeds 
subquadrate-ovoid, with numerous elongate fovee, ashy-white, with a 
large conical hoodshaped caruncule, which is notched on the inner 
side. Plant glabrous; leaves rather thick, glaucous. 
On stony banks and cliffs by the sea, or on sandy and shingly sea- 
beaches. Rather rare, and exclusively confined to the south-west and 
west coast, extending from the Isle of Wight and Stokes Bay to the 
Mull of Galloway. Local, but widely distributed in Ireland. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Early Summer to Autumn. 
Rootstock somewhat woody, slender. Stems usually numerous, 
so that the plant forms a small bush 6 to 18 inches high. Leaves, 
especially on the flowering stem, soon falling off and leaving it marked 
with scars; those on the barren shoots narrower, and more acute 
than the rest, the length varying from } to 1 inch; when growing, 
the leaves are spreading, but as soon as the plant is pulled up and 
begins to wither, they become adpressed. Umbel-rays rather long, 
sometimes occupying nearly half the height of the plant. Bracts } 
to & inch across the pair. Capsule 4 inch long. Seeds brown when 
moist, but, like many of the other species of this genus, the covering 
becomes ashy-white when dry. Stems, and sometimes the leaves and 
bracts, frequently tinged with bright red in autumn. 
Mr. Bentham refers this plant to the south European E. segetalis, 
which is an avnual plant with narrower leaves and cordate bracts, 
