SPURGE FAillLY 147 



glands at its notches. Sterile flowers many, borne inside the 

 involucre at its base (Fig. 23, A), each consisting only of a 

 single stamen attached by a joint to a pedicel which looks like 

 a filament. Fertile flower standing alone at the center of the 

 inTolucre (Fig. 23, C) (soon pushed out by the growth of its 

 pedicel), consisting only of a 3-lobed and 3-celled ovary, 3 2- 

 cleft styles, and 6 stigmas. Pod 3-celled and 3-seeded. 



A. Cultieated shrubs. 



1. E. splendens Bojer. Crown of Thokns. An extremely prickly 

 shrub, with many erect, fe^-leaved branches. Leaves obovate o¥ 

 obovate-spatulate, niucronate, entire, each with two very sharp 

 prickles (longer than the petiole) as stipules. Peduncles long, 

 sticky, each bearing 2-4 objects which appear to be showy scai-let 

 flowers, but which are actually 2-bracted involucres containing the 

 true flowers. Involuci-al scales somewhat kidney-shaped, mucrouate. 

 Flowering all the year round. Cultivated in greenhouses. From 

 Mauritius. 



B. Herbs with rather showy white flower clusters. 



2. E. marginata Pursh. Sxow on the ^JIcjuxtain. Annual. Stem 

 stout, 1-3 ft. high. Leaves sessile, ovate, obovate or oblong, acute, 

 f-3 in. long, the upper ones whorled and with white petal-like mar- 

 gins. Involucres 5-lobed in an umbel-like inflorescence with three 

 forking rays. In dry soil W. and commonly cultivated. 



3. E. corollata L. FLO^^•ERrNG Spurge. Perennial. Stem erect, 

 umbellately branched above, smooth or downy, 1—3 ft. high. Leaves 

 of the stem alternate, those of the branches usually opposite or 

 whorled, rather thick, oval to narrowly oblong, pale beneath, usu- 

 ally slightly downy. Flowering branches repeatedly forked; invo- 

 lucres terminal and in the forks of the branches, peduncled ; glands 

 4-.5, oblong, green; appendages white and petal-like, showy. Cap- 

 sule erect, seed smooth or faintly pitted. Common in dry, open 

 woods. 



C. Herbs: Xo. 4 o natire species: Xo. 5 cultivated from Europe or 

 escaping from gardens. Flower clusters in umbels, not white. Invol'icre 

 4- or 5-lobed, each lobe with a gland. 



4. E. dictyosperma Fisch. & iley. Annual. Stem slender, S-IS in. 

 high, erect. Stem leaves oblong-spatulate to obovate, serrate: floral 

 ones roundish-ovate, somewhat heart-shaped. Flower cluster a com- 

 pound umbel, the rays once or twice 3-forked, then 2-forked. Seeds 

 covered with a network. Prairies and roadsides. 



