EUPHOREIACE^. (SPUKGE FAMILY.) 389 



*+ Leaves scattered, thin and membranaceous : pod smooth. 



17. E. Pi;pLU8, L. (Petty Spukqb.) Erect or ascending (5'- 10' high) ; 

 leaves petioled, round-obovate ; the upper floral ones ovate ; umbel 3-rayed, then 

 forking; glands long-homed; lobes of the pod 2-wing<rested on the back; 

 seeds 2-grooved on the inner face, pitted on the back. ® — Waste places in the 

 Eastern States ; rather rare. (Nat. from En.) 



18. E. commutata^ Engelm. mss. Stems branched from a commonly 

 decumbent base (6' -12' high) ; leaves obovate, the upper all sessile, the upper 

 floral roundish-dilated, broader than long; pod obtusely angled, crestless; seeds 

 ovale, pitted all over. @ (J) 1]. 1 — Along water-courses,' from Virginia toward 

 the mountains to Ohio and westward. — Leaves often persistent over the winter 

 on sterile shoots, turning red, like those of the European E. amygdaloides. 

 Seeds 1" long, larger than those of E. Peplus; with which this has been con- 

 founded ; but the character of the pods and seeds readily distinguish it. 



*+ ♦+ Leaves all opposite or nearly so, thickish : pod smooth. 



19. E. LAthtbis, L. (Caper Spukgb.) Stem stout (2°-3° high); 

 leaves linear-oblong, the floral oblong-ovate and heart-shaped, pointed ; umbel 

 3 - 4-rayed, then forking ; glands short-homed. ® — Sparingly escaped from 

 gardens, where it is common. (Adv. from Eu.) 



2. CnriDOSCOIilTS, PoU. Spukge-Nettlb. 



Flowers monoecious, in a terminal open forking cyme ; the fertile ones usu- 

 ally in the lower forks. Calyx corolla-like (white) ; in the staminate flowers 

 salver-shaped, 5-lobed; in the pistillate, 5-parted, convolute in the bud. Corolla 

 none. Hypogynous glands 5, small. Ster. Fl. Stamens 10, monadelphous 

 below, the inner ones longer. Fert. Fl. Ovary 3-cellcd: styles 3, short, some- 

 what united, many-cleft. Pod 3-celled, bristly-hairy, 3-seeded, separating into 

 3 two-valved cai-pels. — Perennials, beset with stinging bristles (whence appar- 

 ently the name, from kvIStj, a nettle, and o'kcoKos, a prickle). 



I. G. Stiniulosa. (Tkead-Soptlt.) Herbaceous, from a long peren- 

 nial root, branching (6'-18'high) ; leaves roundish-heart-shaped, 3-5-lobed. 

 (Jatropha stimulosa, Michx.) — Sandy soil, Virginia and southward. 



3. ACAEirilA, L. Thkee-seeded Mekoury. 



Flowers monoecious ; the sterile very small, clustered in spikes, with the few 

 or solitary fertile flowers at their base, or sometimes in separate spikes. Calyx 

 of the sterile flowers 4-parted ; of the fertile, 3-parted. Corolla none. Stamens 

 8-16 : filaments short, monadelphous at the base : anther-cells separate, long, 

 hanging from the apex of the filament. Styles 3, cut-fringed (red). Pod sep- 

 arating into 3 globular carpels which split into 2 valves, rarely of only one car- 

 pel. — Annual herbs (in N. America), with the appearance of Nettles or Ama- 

 ranths ; the leaves alternate, petioled, with stipules. Clusters of sterile flowers 

 with a minute bract ; the fertile surrounded by a large and leaf-like cut-lobed 

 persistent breujt. ('AkoX^c/h;, an ancient name of the Nettle.) 

 33* 



