FUPHORBIA MARGINATA., 
SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN. 
NATURAL ORDER, EUPHORBIACE/E. 
EUPHORBIA MARGINATA, Pursh.—Leaves oblong-lanceolate, sub-cordate, sessile, acute, mucro- 
nate, entire on the margin, glabrous; umbel three-rayed, once or twice dichotomous; 
involucrate leaves oblong, colored and membranaceous at the margin; inner segments of 
the floral involucre roundish ; capsule hairy-pubescent. (Wood’s Class-Book of Botany.) 
OME of the plants now recognized as Euphorbia were 
also known to the ancients, and references to them 
occur in some of the oldest writings extant. The genus com- 
prises an immense number of species; and yet, as intelligent 
men penetrate unexplored portions of the globe, they occa- 
sionally find new kinds to add to the already large list. Great 
numbers of them prefer hot and dry places, and so as what are 
called the deserts of our country became explored, and plants 
not known before were discovered, new Euphorbias of all others 
would be likely to be found among them. In the early part of 
the present century very little was known of the plants growing 
beyond the Mississippi or the Missouri. It was not until 1814 
when Pursh issued in London his work on the “ Flora of North. 
America,” that we had any knowledge of the flowers of this part 
of our country, and it is in this work that our present subject 
was first named and described, But though the credit of estab- 
lishing the name may be given to Pursh under botanical rules, it 
does not follow that he was the original collector of the plants 
he wrote of. He was never beyond the Mississippi river, and 
he was indebted to the expedition of Lewis and Clarke for 
much of his material. Some of the dried specimens of this 
expedition fell into his hands, and were used by him for his 
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