37G 



LXXVII. EUPHORBIACE^. 



[Euphorbia. 



1. Mercuriai^is Linn. Mercury. 



Dioecious or monoecious. 



Barren fi. Perianth single, tri- 



12, without any rudiment of an ovary 



anthers of 2 globose lobes. — Fertile fl. Perianth single, tril 



partite. Filaments 2 — 3, without anthers. 



partite. Stam. 9 



Styles 2, simple. 

 Ovary 2-celled, 2-ovuled. Caps. 2-celled; cells 1 -seeded, burst- 

 ing at the back. — So named, because the god Mercury is said 

 to have discovered the virtues, of what kind soever they may 

 be, of this plant. 



1. M. perennis L. (pei^ennial or Dog's M.) ; creeping perennial 

 and dioecious, fertile flowers in stalked lax spikes, stem per- 

 fectly simple, leaves rough, E. B, t. 1872. 



Woods and shady places abundant. If., 3 — 5, — About 1 foot 

 high. Leaves mostly on the upper part of the stem, ovate, serrate. 

 Both kinds oifloicers are in axillary lax spikes. The pla7it when dry ino- 

 often becomes of a bluish or blackish green. — M. ovata Sleud. et 



M 



J, B. vii. p. 531. 



M.) 



sessile, stem with opposite branches, leaves glabrous, root fibrous 

 annual, — a. dioecious, leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, sterile 

 flowers in lax spikes. E. B. t. 559 — /3. monoecious, leaves 

 lanceolate, sterile and fertile flowers whorled intermixed. M, 

 ambigua L.JiL : Bab. in E. -B. >S'. t. 2816. 



Waste places about towns and villages, not common, ^. Jersey. 

 Isle of Wight. 0. 7— 11. — Stem about 1 foot high. Far, j8. has 

 certainly a very different appearance, but De Candolle and most 

 authors do not consider it distinct. 



/ 



2. Euphorbia Linn. Spurge. 



Lnvolucre of one^ piece, resembling a perianth, including one 



5 glands al- 



ternating with the segments. 



without a perianth. 



/■ 



A single stamen 



Sarren ji. 



A single pistil without a 

 periantn [ox rarely a very mmute one). Ovary 3-lobed, 3-celled, 

 3-ovuled. ^S^T/Z^^ 3-cleft. Caps, separating elastically from the 

 axis into 3 cocci^ each bursting along the inner angle towards 

 the apex and 1 -seeded. — K^amed from Euphorlus, physician to 

 Juba, king of Mauritania, who brought the plant into use. 



* Leaves with stipules. Glands of the involucre with small membrana- 

 ceous processes beneath. 



1. E. Peplis L. (purple S.) ; stem procumbent forked, leaves 

 oblong heart-shaped nearly entire, flowers axillary solitary, 



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