248 



MANUAL OF BOTANY 



Properties and Uses. — Many are remarkable for their astrin- 

 gent properties ; others are edible, as Ombrophytum, a native of 

 Peru, and Lophophytum of Bolivia ; and soiiie secrete a kind of 

 wax. 



Series 7. — Unisexuales. 



Order 29. Euphoebiace^, the Spurge Order. — Character. 

 — Trees, shrubs, or herbs, usually with an acrid milky juice. 

 Lea/oes alternate or opposite, simple or rarely compound, 

 stipulate or exstipulate. Flowers unisexual, monoecious, or 

 dioecious, axillary or terminal, sometimes enclosed in a calyx- 

 like involucre ; achlamydeous, or with a lobed inferior calyx 

 having on its inside glandular or scaly appendages, or even 



Fig. i005. 



Fig. 1004. Monoecious head of flowers of a species of Euphorbia, i. Invo- 

 lucre, a portion of which has been removed in front, g, g. Glands on the 

 divisions of the involucre. 6, &. Scales or bractlets at the base of the flowers. 

 fm, fm. Male flowers, each consisting of a stamen supported on a pedicel, 

 to which it is articulated. ^. Female flower, supported on a stalk. From 



Jussieu. Fig. 1005. Vertical section of the pericarp and seed of a carpel 



(coccus) bf a species of Euphorbia. 



evident petals, which are either distinct or united. Male 

 flowers consisting of 1 or more stamens, distinct or united into 

 one or more bundles ; anthers 2-ceIled. Female flowers with a 

 superior ovary, which is either elevated upon a stalk or sessile, 

 1- 2- 3- or many-ceUed ; styles either absent or corresponding 

 in number to the ceUs of the ovary, entire or divided ; stigmas 

 equal in number to the cells of the ovary, or, when the styles 

 are divided, corresponding in number to their divisions ; ovules 

 1 or 2 in each cell, suspended from the inner angle. Fruit 

 either dry, and its component carpels then separating from each 

 other and from the axis and usually opening with elasticity ; or 

 succulent and indehiscent. Seeds 1 or 2 in each cell, suspended. 



