EUPIIORBIACKiE. 31" 



10. E. punica, L. Scarlet Spurge. Splendid Euphorbia. 



Stem shrubby, fleshy, armed with rigid sharp thorns; leaves ovate, tapering to 

 the base, smooth, entire, acute, mucronate; peduncles axillary, 2 to 3 times dicho- 

 tdmous ; brads scarlet. A singular and showy garden plant. . 



2. PHYLLANTHUS/Linn. 



Gr-phuUon, leaf, anthos, blossom ; the flowers being attached to the leaves. 



Flowers monoecious. Perianth 5 to 6 parted, alike in 

 the sterile and fertile flowers. Stamens 3 : filaments 

 united in a column, surrounded by 5 to G glands or a 5 to 6- 

 lobed glandular disk. Ovary 3-celled, the ceils 2-ovuled : 

 styles 3, 2-cleft : stigmas 6. Capsule separating into 3 

 carpels, which split into 2-valves. — Herbs or shrubs, iviik al- 

 ternate stipulate leaves, and minute axillary /lowers. 



P. Carolinensis, "Walt. Leaf-blossom. 



Rem erect, herbaceous, with alternate branches ; leaves simple, entire, smooth, 

 oval and obovate, short-petioled; flowers few, subsolitary. 



Gravelly banks. July, Aug. Ann. Stem 6 to 10 inches high, slender. Leaves 

 of the item % to % by % to % inch, tho?e of the branches %, and those or the 

 branchlets % as large- Flowers very small, whitish, 1 to 3 in'eacb axil., 



3. ACALYPHA, Linn. Mercury. 



The Greek name for the nettle, which this plant resembles. 



Flowers monoecious. Perianth of the sterile flowers 

 4-parted, of- the fertile 3-parted. Stamens 8 to 16 : fila- 

 ments short, united at the base : anther-cells separate, 

 long, hanging from the apex of the filament. Styles 3, 

 cut-fringed. Capsule separating into 3 globose <jar| 

 which split into 2 valves. — Mostli/ herbaceous plants, v:lth 

 alternate petioled stipulate leaves, and the clusters of sterile flowers 

 with a minute brad, the fertile surrounded by a large leaf-like cut- 

 i/bed persistent bract. 



I. A. Virginica, L. Three-seeded Mercury. 



Leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, obtusely serrate, longpctioledj sterile spv.e rat 

 f-w-flowered ; involucre of tbe fertile flowers heart-shaped, broad-ovate, acuminate, 

 veined and toothed. 



Fields and open places, common. Aug. Ann. A homely weed 1 to 2 foot h LI:, 

 smooth or hairy, often reddish in autumn. Leaves 3-veined, 1 to 2\S Z inchc? " 

 I _; as wide. Pistillate flowers at the base of the peduncle, of the staminate q 



2. A. Caroliniana, Walt. Carolinian three-seeded Mercury/ . 



Leaves on long potloics. rhombic-ovate, acuminate, serrate, entire at base; br ; •: 

 heart-shaped, lobed ; fertile flowers at the base of the staminate spike. 

 Fields rare. July, Aug. Ann. Stem 9 to IS inches high. A peculiar spi z 



1/2* 



