CXVII. EUPHORBlACEiE. 1395 



Flowers cymulose nearly terminal. Stamens 2 or 3, filaments connate. 

 Anthers 2-celle(l. Climbing shrubs. Leaves biglanduUir. Fruit large, 2, 

 3 or 4-eelled • . 40. Ompiulea. 



Eacemes terminal and axillary. Ovary 3-celled. Stamens 2 or 3. Capsule 



separating into 3 2-valved cocci ... , 41. Sebastiania. 



Calyx minute. Stamens 3 or 2. Seeds without any oarunculus .... 42. Exc.i:c;akia. 



1. EUPHORBIA, Linn. 

 (After Euphorbus ; a physician to Juba, King of Mauritania.), 

 (Anisophyllum, Haw.) 

 Flower-heads resembling single flowers. Involucre small, cup-shaped, with 

 4 or 5 small teeth alternating with and often concealed by as many horizontal 

 prominent glands, which are sometimes expanded into or bordered by petal- 

 like appendages. Within are about 10 to 12 male flowers consisting each of a 

 single stamen with an articulated filament, and usually intermixed with or 

 surrounded by thin membranous bracts, and in the centre a single female 

 flower consisting of a stipitate 3-celled ovary protruding from the involucre, with 

 1 pendulous ovule in each cell. Style S-cleft, the branches (or distinct styles) 

 entire or 2-lobed. Capsule separating into 3 2-valved cocci. — Herbs or shrubs, 

 abounding in milky juice often very acrid. Stem-leaves entire or denticulate, in 

 the majority of non-Australian but in very few Australian species alternate 

 without stipules, the flowering branches umbellate, dichotomous with usually 

 opposite leaves ; the majority, however, of the Australian species belong to a 

 section with herbaceous dichotomous stems with the leaves opposite from the 

 base and small interpetiolar stipules, and some species not Australian are 

 succulent leafless shrubs. 



A very large genus dispersed over nearly the whole world. Of the seventeen Australian 

 species one is a common tropical weed, three are maritime plants extending more or less 

 over the coasts of tlie Indian Aiohipelago, southern Asia and the Pacific islands, the remainder 

 appear to be endemic, although one or two may be nearly allied to E. Indian species. 



Sect. I. A.niSO'ptiyllvs.in..— Leaves all opposite with small interpetiolar stipnles. Involu- 

 cral glands usually bordered by u petal-like appendage {except E. atoto and E. pilulifera.) 

 Seeds iDitlwut any cariuiculus. 



* Floioers-lieads in small distinct terminal cymes with the floral leaves or bracts as long as or 

 longer than the involucres. Capsules and lohole plant glabrous. 



Seeds smooth. Appendages of the involucral glands scarcely conspicuous 1. E. atoto. 

 Seeds rugose. Ai^pendages conspicuously petal-like, entire. 



Lower leaves ovate, upper ones lanceolate or linear. Cymes loose with 

 filiform peduncles. Involucres J line long .... 1. E. Mitchelliana. 



(See also 11. E. Uacgillivrayi, with much larger involucral appendages). 



** Flower-lieads solitary or two together, terminal or in the upper axils. Stems hairy or 

 pubescent. 



Stem and leaves pubescent or shortly hirsute. 

 Involucres IJ line long, the glands with a broad palmately lobed 



appendage" ... . . . 3. E. scldzolepis. 



Involucres not 4 line long, the glands with a very small usually lobed 



appendage . i. E. Schultzii. 



**' Flower-heads solitary in the uppjer or in nearly all the aicils or forks. 



Stem and leaves pubescent or hirsute. 

 Involucres about J line long, the gland-appendages usually lobed. 



Stems niuih branched, usually 6in. to 1ft . . . S. E. uustralis. 



Involucres about 1 line long, the gland-appendages entire. Dwarf 



plant with rigid stems of 1 to 2in . . . . 6. £'. Muelleri. 



Whole plant quite glabrous. 



Involucres about 1 line long. Dsvarf plant with rigid stems of 1 to 2in. 6. E. Bluelleri. 

 Involucres A— j line long. 



Diffuse or prostrate branching stems forming at length a perennial 

 rhizome. Gland-appendages usually entire. 



Styles notched only at the end I.E. Drummondii. 



Styles slender bifid -. 8. E. alsinaflora. 



