Euphorbia] EUPHORBiACEiE. 413 



It Bracts distinct at the base. 



5. "E. portlandiea, h. Portland Spurge. " Umbel with about 

 5 principal dichotomous branches and several inferior scattered 

 ones, bracteas triangular-cordate, leaves membranaceous obovato- 

 lanceolate generally obtuse and submucronate, glands of the invo- 

 lucre (4) lunate with 2 long points, capsule rough at the angles, 

 seeds dotted (almost white)." — Br. Fl. p. 368. E. B. t. 441. 



On rocVs and cliffs by the sea, also on the beach itself, as well as occasionally 

 in woods and thickets along the shore; very rare with us. Fl. June — August. 



E. Med. — Plentiful on steep banks and cliffs at the N. E. extremity of San-, 

 down bay, as noticed in B. T. W., the only station I am yet acquainted with. 

 The plant, which is there of humble growth, occurs most frequeully on the 

 chalk just at its junction with the green sandstone. ["It attains a largo size on 

 the crumbled chalk at the foot of the Culvers," A. G. More, Esq., Edvs.] 



Herb very milky aud acrid. Root long, tough, woody and flexuose, scarcely 

 branched, whitish. Stems very numerous, forming a dense, roundish, spreading 

 tuft, often of considerable diameter, round, slender, ascending and somewhat 

 woody, about a foot high, purplish at the base or often entirely ooral-red. Leaves 

 numerous, small, scattered, sessile, erect or spreading, entire, pale glaucous-green, 

 oblong or obovate, with a single prominent rib beneath, ending in a small 

 deflexed point, soon falling from and leaving the lower poilion of the stems bare 

 and scarred. Umbels terminal, of 5 principal compressed rays, with mostly a few 

 scattered peduncles beneath it, which, as well as those of the principal umbel, are 

 dichotomously branched at the summit. General involucre roundish ovate, par- 

 tial ones rotundato-cordale or subrhomboidal, mucionate, in all my specimens 

 very obtuse, though said in E. B. to be pointed. Glands 4, lunate, dull orange, 

 with incurved points, one of which is often either smaller or quite wanting ; some- 

 times both are deficient, as I find not unfrequently the case in the specimens 

 before me. Stamens very deciduous. Styles 3, nearly erect, deeply cleft ; stigmas 

 simple, glandular, yellowish. Capsules small, very obtusely 3-lobed, granulato- 

 scabrous, especially about the angles. Seeds roundish, varying from reddish 

 brown to grayish white, with a linear chink or furrow on one side when ripe, 

 finely punctate, dimpled and carunculate. 



This species, though widely diffused in Britain, is nowhere seen on our east- 

 ern coasts beyond Dover. It is generally rare in other parts of Europe, though 

 common in Brittany, and according to Fortenschlag found also in Dalmatia. 



6. E. Peplus, L. Petty Spurge. Wartweed. " Umbel of 

 about 3 principal branches, bracteas ovate, leaves membrana- 

 ceous broadly obovate on short stalks entire glabrous, glands of 

 the involucre lunate the horns very long, germen somewhat 

 winged and scabrous, seeds dotted." — Br. Fl. p. 369. E. B. t. 

 959. 



In cultivated and waste ground, especially about towns at the close of summer ; 

 common. Fl. July — November. 0. 



Frequent about Ryde in neglected gardens. 



A bushy, glabrous, milky and acrid herb. Root whitish, tapering, branched, 

 with numerous slender fibres. Stem 6—12 inches high, erect or reclining, usually 

 dividing into 3 principal branches, round, smooth, and mostly tinged with pur- 

 plish red, copiously and dichotomously ramified above. Leaves bright pale green, 

 slightly glaucous, sometimes tinged with purple, thin aud membranous, a little 

 concave, obovate, quite entire, obtuse or slightly pointed, sometimes a little emar- 

 ginate at ihe apex or mucronulate, those of the main stem few, scattered, cadu- 

 cous, petiolate: at the forks of the branches opposite or 3 together, on shorter 



