llUl'iniiUIACEJS. 



Order 101. EUPHORBIAOEE. — Spurge Family. 



Trees, shrubs or herbs, often abounlin / in an acrid miVcy juice, opp isite or alter* 



•dmpoun I le ives, often furnished with stipules, usua 7 ly terminal 



or axilanj m mcecious or dicecious flowirs, and a capsule of 2 to 3 or several 1-seede I 



t united around a central axis, separating when ripe. — Calyx usually valvate ii. 



tfte bud, occasionally wanting. PfHALSsomatimaa present. Stigmas 2 to 3 or uisrej 



often 6 . 



1. EUPHORBIA, Linn. Spurge. 



Named after Euphorbus, physieiau to King Juba. 



Flowers monoecious, included in a cup-shaped 4 to 5- 

 1 involucre resembling a calyx or corolla, usually with 

 and thick glands at its sinuses. Sterile flowers 

 numerous and lining the base of the involucre, each from 

 the axils of a little bract, and consisting merely of a single 

 stamen jointed on the pedicel like the filament. Fertile 

 flowers solitary in the middle of the involucre, soon pro- 

 truded on a long pedicel, consisting of a 3-lobed, 3-celled 

 ovary without a calyx or a mere vestige. Styles 3, 2-elefr, 

 therefore G stigmas. Capsule 3-lobed, 3-celled; cells 1- 

 1. — H li'Ls or shrubs, icith a milky juice, r/enerally oppo- 

 site haves, the uppermost often in whorls or pairs, or sometimes 

 w mting, and literal or terminal peduncles often umbellate clustered. 

 ■n leaves alternate; flowers in involucra'c u.nbJs. 



1. E. corollata, L. Flowering Spurge. 



Sisms upright, nearly simple ; teavss oblong, obtuse, entire, the floral team 



small ; umbel divided into 5 or G rays, then 3 or 2 forked; glands oval, each at the 



if a petaloid involucre. 



DrV banks and sandy fields, very commoo. P r. July — Sept. Stem slender,! 



it high, mostly smooth. Leaves 1 to 2 inches loner, often quite finear. vorv 



entire, scattered on the stem, verticillate and opposite in the umbel. CbroUu-liki 



ire large, white, showy. 



*2. E.-Darltngtonit, Gray. Darlington's Spurge. 



Stem-leaves lance-oblong, pale and minutely downy underneath, the secondary or 

 floral leaves orbicular dilated, all entire ; umbel divided into 5 to S rays, then several 

 c;me= simply forked; segments of the floral involucre colored, entire, gub-reniforni ; 

 ovary warty. 



Moisf wools, Chester County. &c. Mav, June. Per. Stin 2 to 4 feet hi*h, 

 smooth, rarely branched below the umbel. Leaves 3 fe>4 inches lonir, the floral 

 oval, vorv obtuse, the others rounded and nearly as broad as long. Floral involu- 

 cre purplish-brown within. Capsule at length nearly smooth. 



3. E, Heliascopia. L. Sun Sjmrge. 



Erect: floral leaves obovater stem leaves wedge-form, all obovate and nearly 

 roun.lel at the end, finely serrate ; umbel divided into 5 rays, then into 3s, or at 

 length simply forked; glands orbicular, stalked ; fruit smooth and even. 



Waste places, rare. July— Sept. Ann. Stem smooth, 8 to 16 inches high,. 



