AT THE SEA-SIDE— NEAR THE COAST III 



rose. Leaves^ opposite, oblong or narrow, small, few, sessile. 

 Time, May. Stems 4 to 10 inches long. 



The Spurge family includes many of our useful plants— the cas- 

 tor-oil, croton-oil, manihot (from which tapioca is made), and the 

 rubber-plant. In its manner of flowering this genus (Euphorbia) 

 is singular. There is no proper calyx or corolla, but an involucre 

 resembling a calyx, often colored, cup-shaped, and divided into 

 4 or 5 lobes, surrounds the flowers. Between the lobes are thick 

 glands. Within this cup arise several staminate flowers, each a 

 single stamen on a jointed stalk, from the axil of a small bract. 

 From the centre of this cluster of stamens a single pistil is raised 

 on a long stalk composed of a 3 -celled ovary, 3 styles, and 6 

 stigmas. The plants contain milky juice. In this species (ipecac) 

 the growth is low and slender. The numerous stems fork below 

 the middle, bearing a pair of small leaves near the fork. Flower 

 stems above an inch long. Sometimes the whole plant has a red- 

 dish tinge. It maybe found in the spring, common. The ipecac 

 used in medicine is mostly obtained from Cephahlis Ipecacudnha, 

 a member of the Madder family. 



E. corollhta is a tall species, 2 or 3 feet high, with leaves 

 generally whorled around the upper part of the stem. The 

 upper leaves are white-margined, giving the plant a showy ap- 

 pearance. The involucre is white, and the clusters of flowers 

 are grouped in umbels. The umbels of flowers are 5-forked 

 (sometimes fewer or more), each fork again two or three times 

 forked. 



From New York to Florida, and inland. Not strictly maritime. 



42 



Spreading Euphorbia {E. polygonifblid) is a species growing 

 on pure sand on the shore, its pinkish stems with small, nar- 

 row, opposite leaves, slightly heart-shaped at base, acute at 

 apex, with cut or fringed stipules, spreading carpet-like on the 

 ground. The root pulls lightly up. If a branch or single leaf 



