112 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



is broken off, a thick, milky juice exudes from the wound. 

 The flowers are small, greenish, appearing in July. 3 to 10 

 inches long. 



The euphorbias are all poisonous. Nuttall says, " In the des- 

 erts of Africa they only tend, as it were, to augment the surround- 

 ing scenes of desolation ; leafless, bitter, thorny, poisonous, they 

 seem to deny food to every animated being." 



43. Redroot 



Lachnanthes tinctoria or Gyroiheca capitata. — Family, 

 Bloodwort. Color, yellow. Leaves, long, sword-shaped, those 

 clustered at base shorter than the stem, those above, on stem, 

 bract-like. Time, July to September, 



Perianth of 3 sepals and 3 petals. Stamens, 3, on long fila- 

 ments. Style, I, long and slender. 18 to 30 inches tall. 



The flowers grow in woolly, dense cymes, or broad panicles, 

 on pedicels, terminating a hairy stem. The fibrous root is red. 

 Range, from Massachusetts to Florida, mostly in the pine barrens, 

 near the coast. 



44. Narrow-leaved Cat-tail 



Typha angustifblia. — Family, Cat-tail. Color, light-brown. 

 Leaves, long and quite narrow. Time, June, July. 



Staminate and -pistiWaie. flowers usually separated by a space 

 of 2 or 3 inches. 



Common along the entire Atlantic coast, sometimes found in- 

 land. 5 to 10 feet high. 



