EUPHORBIACEAE 281 



elastically from the columella. (Named after Euphorbus, physician to 

 King Juba.) 



Species about 600, in all parts of the world, about 10 in the Philippines. 



1. Erect branched shrubs or undershrubs with stout, often iieshy branches, 

 armed with stigular spines. 

 2. Very coarse, the branches very, stout, 4- or 5-angled, the spines less 

 than 4 mm long, from thickened bases ; leaves 5 to 30 cm long. 



1. E. trigona 

 2. Branches less than 1 fim thick, the spines 4 to 12 mm long; lobes of 



the involucre red, showy 2. E. splendens 



1. Eirect unarmed shrubs with slender cylindric branches which are green 



and nearly leafless. 3. E. tirucalli 



1, Erect, unarmed, leafy shrubs or herbs, with terminal cymes subtended 

 by showy colored bracts or bract-like leaves. 

 2. Herbaceous or suffrutesceiit; leaves 3 to 10 cm long, irregularly 



lobed, the bracts green and red 4. E. heterophylla 



2. An erect shrub; leaves 10 to 18 cm long, the bracts large, uniformly 



bright-red 5. E. pulcherrima 



1. Erect, spreading, or prostrate, unarmed herbs, the flowers in axillary 

 cymes or fascicles. 

 2. Erect glabrous herbs with rather lax cyme^, the limb of the involu- 

 cral-gland white, small but conspicuous. 



3. Leaves linear, 1.5 to 6 cm long, serrulate 6. E. serrulata 



' 3. Leaves elliptic to oblong, somewhat oblique, 1 to 1.5 cm long, very 



minutely toothed _ - 7. E. hypericifolia 



2. Prostrate or spreading plants with short, densely flowered cymes or 

 fascicles, the limb of the involucral gland none or inconspicuous. - 

 3. Leaves 1 to 2 cm long; plants prominently hirsute or hispid- 

 pubescent 8. E. hirta 



3. Leaves less than 1 cm long; slender, nearly glabrous or only slightly 

 pubescent plants. 



4. Capsules pubescent 9. E. thymifolia 



4. Capsules hispid-ciliate on the keels of the cocci, otherwise glabrous. 



10. E. prostrata 



1. E. trigona Haw. Sorog-sorog (Tag.); Suda-suda (Vis.). 



A shrubby, erect, branched, fleshy, cactus-like plant 2 to 4 m high, tlw 

 trunk and older branches grayish, cylindric, the medium branches slightly 

 twisted, stout, fleshy, 4- or 5-angled or winged, the younger ones usually 

 3-winged, the wings lobulate, with a pair of stout, sharp, 2 to 4 mm long 

 spines from thickened bases at each leaf or petiole-scar. Leaves from the 

 sides of wings toward the ends of the branches, fleshy, oblong-obovate, 

 obtuse or acute, 5 to 15 cm long, or in young plants somewhat longer. 

 Cymes short, solitary in the sinuses, usually of 3 involucres, the involucres 

 green or pale-yellow, about 6 mm in diameter, the lobes fimbriate. 



Occasionally cultivated for ornamental purposes, fl. March; widely dis- 

 tributed in the Philippines in cultivation, and in some provinces apparently 

 in<flgenous. India to Malaya. 



• 2. E. SPLENDENS Boj. Corona de espinas (Sp.) ; Crown of Thorns. 



An erect branched shrub 1 m high or less, the branches grayish, cylin- 

 dric or obscurely angled, armed with slender, sharp, spreading, 4 to 12 

 mm long spines. Leaves few, alternate, oblong-obovate, obtuse or apiculate- 



