ETJPHOEEIACE^. 461 



as the northern hemisphere, and nearly connected with several more tro- 

 pical genera of weed-liie, uninteresting plants. 



Eootstock perennial. Stems simple. Flowers all in loose spikes . . 1. Perennial M. 

 Eoot annual. Stem branched. Female flowers sessile or shortly 



stalked 2. Annual M. 



1. Perennial Mercury. Mercurialis perennis, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1872. Bog's Mercury.) 



Kootstock slender and creeping. Stems erect, simple, 6 or 8 inches, or 

 rarely nearly a foot high. Leaves rather crowded in tlie upper half, oblong or 

 ovate-lanceolate, 2 to 4 or 5 inches long, usually pointed, serrated, and rough 

 or shortly hairy. Flowers dioecious, on slender axillary peduncles, often 

 nearly as long as the leaves ; the males in little clusters, the females singly 

 or 2 together. Ovaries larger than the perianth, with rather long, spread- 

 ing styles. Capsules more or less covered with warts or soft prickles. 



In woods and shady places, throughout Europe and Russian Asia, except 

 the extreme north. Abundant in England, Ireland, and a great part of 

 Scotland. Fl. early spring, commencing before its leaves are fully out. 



2. Annual Mercury. Mercurialis annua, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 559.) 



An erect, glabrous annual, 6 inches to a foot high, with opposite branches. 

 Leaves stalked, ovate or oblong, rather coarsely toothed, of a thin texture. 

 Male flowers clustered, as in the perennial M., along slender peduncles 

 nearly as long as the leaves. Females 2 or 3 together, either sessile or 

 shortly stalked, in the axils of the leaves, usually on separate plants from 

 the males. 



In cultivated and waste places ; very common in central and southern 

 Europe and eastward to the Caucasus, more rare towards the north, and 

 only as an introduced weed of cultivation in Scandinavia. Not generally 

 common in England or Ireland, very local and doubtfully indigenous in 

 Scotland. Fl. the whole summer and autumn. A variety with more sessile 

 leaves and flowers, the latter often monoecious, has been described as a 

 species, under the name of M. amhigua (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2816). It is 

 not common, even on the Continent, but has been found in Jersey and in 

 the south of England. 



in. BOX. BIJXUS. 



Flowers monoecious, the males and females clustered in the same axil, 

 but not enclosed in a common involucre. Perianth smaU, of 4 segments. 

 Stamens 4 in the male flowers. Styles 3 in the females. Capsule 3-ceIled, 

 with 2 seeds in each cell. 



A genus probably Umited to a single species. 



1. Common Bos. Buxus sempervirens, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1341.) 

 A glabrous, much branched, evergreen shrub, attaining 6 or 8 feet in 

 height when left uncut. Leaves opposite, entire, thick and shining, varying 

 from ovate to oblong, J^ to 1 inch long. Flowers small, green, and sessile, 

 usually several males and one or two females in the same axillary cluster, 

 the former with one small bract under the perianth, the female with 3 bracts, 



2b2 



