228 EUPHOBBIACEAE. 



1. Mercurialis annua L. Sp. PI. 1035. 1753. 



A weak glabrous annual 2-6 dm. high. Leaves thin, ovate to lanceolate, 

 3-6X1-5-2.5 cm., narrowed at the base, acute or acuminate at the apex, 

 erenafe or serrate with rounded teeti; petioles somewhat less than half the 

 length of the blade; male flowers in interrupted spikes longer than the leaves; 

 female flowers clustered in the axils. Capsule 2-carpelledj 4^5 mm. broad, 

 hispid; seeds ovoid, '2.5 X 2 mm., grayish green, densely shallow-pitted. 



Adventitious in waste grounds near Nassau, New Providence : — Bermuda ; Dela- 

 ware to Texas. Native of Europe. Heeb Meecuey. 



15. ACALYPHA L. Sp. PI. 1008. 1753. 



Herbs or shrubs. Stems mostly erect. Leaves alternate, stipulate. Flow- 

 ers in spikes or spike-like racemes ; staminate cluster often peduneled, each flower 

 in the axil of a minute bractlet, with a 4-parted calyx and 8-16 stamens united 

 at their bases. Pistillate flowers subtended by a foliaceous bract, which often 

 equals or overtop® the staminate, the calyx 3-5-parted; petals wanting in both 

 kinds of flowers; capsule usually of 8, 2-valved carpels, each 1-seeded. [Greek, 

 nettle.] About 250 species, mostly tropical and subtropical. Type species: 

 Acalypha virginica L. 



Inflorescence densely cylindric. 1. A. alopecuroidea. 

 Inflorescence loosely spicate. 



Female bracts clelt to about the middle. 



Plants perennial, prostrate. 2. A. r.hatnaedrifolia. 



Plants annual, erect. 3. _1. ostryaefolia. 



Female bracts cleft to the base. 4. A. setosa. 



1. Acalypha alopecuroidea Jacq. Ic. Ear. 3: 19. 1793. 



Herbaceous, annual, 1-8 dm. high. Leaves broadly ovate, 5-7 X 3-4.5 cm., 

 appressed-pubescent, membranouSj flaccid, truncate or slightly cordate at the 

 base, 5-nerved, cuspidate-acuminate, serrate, the petiole as long as the blade or 

 longer; spikes terminal, closely flowered, 5 cm. long; female bracts l-flowered, 

 membranous, ovate-triangular, 7-9 mm. long, 3-5-lacerate to the base; calyx- 

 lobes ovate, acute; ovary hirsute above; styles elongated, delicate, attenuate, 

 entire or shortly bifid; carpels slightly keeled; seeds ovoid, apieulate, 1 X -^ 

 mm., reddish-brown; testa densely and minutely pitted-cellular ; caruncle waxen, 

 longitudinal, linear. 



Adventitious in waste places, Abaco and New Providence : — Cuba ; Porto Rico ; 

 Jamaica; Mexico; Central America; Caribbean coast of South America. Referred 

 by Dolley to Acali/pha polystachya Jacq. Spicate Acalypha. 



2. Acalypha chamaedrifolia (Lam.) Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. 15^: 879. 1866. 



Croton chamaedrif alius Lam. Encycl. 2: 215. 1786. 

 Acalypha reptans Sw. Prodr. 99. 1788. 



A prostrate herbaceous or sufErutesoent perennial, pubescent or glabrate, 

 with branches 1-3 dm. long. Leaves ovate, .8 X .5-3.5 X 1-5 cm., base blunt or 

 rounded, apex acute, margin erenate-dentate ; petioles about one-third the 

 length of the blades; inflorescence in cylindric terminal subsessile androgynous 

 racemes, male above and few-flowered female below, sometimes with similar 

 superaxillary racemes or female clusters, the flowers sessile; bracts roundish, 

 dentate or erenate, the teeth ovate, seeds ovate-globose, apieulate, brown, 

 3X1 mm. ; testa very minutely pitted-cellular ; caruncle longitudinal, waxen, 

 wrinkled. 



Eed-lands and rocky coppices, Eleuthera : — Florida ; Cuba ; Hispaniola to Tortola 

 and Guadeloupe ; Jamaica. Peosteatb Ac.\lypha. 



