EUPHORBIACEAE 279 



2. SALOMON I A Loureiro 



Erect, branched,, slender, annual, leafy herbs. Flowers small, in dense 

 terminal spikes. Sepals nearly equal, the 2 interior ones somewhat larger. 

 Petals 3, united-at the base with the staminal^tube, the lower one keeled, 

 vaulted, not cfested. Stamens 4 or 5, filaments united below into a 

 sheath. Ovary 2-celled. Capsule laterally compressed, loculicidal, the 

 margins toothed. (Commemorating the Hebrew king, Solomon.) 



Species about 6, tropical Asia through Malaya to Australia, 1 in the 

 Philippines. 



1. S. CILIATA (L.) DC. (S. ohlongifolia DC). 



A slender, erect, simple or branched, annual herb 8 to 30 cm high, nearly 

 glabrous. Leaves elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, sessile, 

 base rounded, 6 to 12 mm long, margins with few, long, distant hairs. 

 Spikes slender, terminal, 2 to 8 cm long. Sepals green, nearly equal, 

 lanceolate, acuminate, . 1 to 1.2 mm long. Corolla pink-purple, about 

 2.5 mm long. Capsule 2 to 2.5 mm wide, broader than long, compressed, 

 valves with a pectinate row of greenish or reddish teeth on the margins. 



In open grass lands, Caloocan and La Loma, fl. Oct.-Jan.; widely dis- 

 tributed in the Philippines, undoubtedly introduced. India to China, south- 

 ward through Malaya to Australia. 



75. EUPHORBIACEAE (Euphorbia or Lumbang Family) 



Herbs,, shrubs, or trees, rarely vines, often with milky juice. Leaves 

 alternate or opposite, entire or toothed, sometimes deeply lobed, rarely 

 compound {Bischofia), or wanting. Inflorescence various. Flowers mostly 

 small, always unisexual, monoecious or dioecious. Perianth simple, calyx- 

 like, often wanting in one or both sexes, sometimes with the inner series 

 of 4 or 5 small petals, or in Euphorbia entirely wanting, the solitary 

 pistil surrounded by few to many naked stamens, all enclosed in a perianth- 

 -like involucre. Stamens few to many, the filaments free or variously 

 united. Ovary superior, 1- to many-celled, usually of 3, rarely fewer or 

 more, more or less united carpels; styles as many as the carpels, free or 

 united, entire or variously divided; ovules 1 or 2 in each cell. Fruit a 

 capsule composed of 2-valved, 1- or 2-seeded cocci separating from the 

 central axis, or drupe-like, the stone 1- to 4-celled, berry-like, or nut-like. 



Genera 250, species about 4,500, in all parts of the world, chiefiy tropical, 

 52 genera and about 300 species in the Philippines. 



1. Cells of the ovary 2-ovuled. 

 2. Perianth none; female flowers solitary, surrounded by numerous male 

 flowers, each consisting of a solitary stamen, all enclosed in a per- 

 ianth-like involucre; plants with abundant milky juice.. 1. Euphorbia, 

 2. Perianth present; flowers not enclosed by involucres. 



3. Petals present; fruit a drupe 2. Bridelia 



3. Petals none. 



4. Leaves simple or compound. ' 



5. Flowers axillary, solitary or fascicled; leaves simple. 



6. Fruit dry, capsular, of 3 to many, dehiscent cocci. 



7. Herbs; disk present in flowers of both sexes. 



3. Phyllanthus 

 1. Shrubs or trees ; disk none 4. Gloehidion 



