12 MALLOW ORDER—GERANIUM ORDER 
SPURGE FAMILY 
SNOW-ON-THE-MOUNTAIN EUPHORBIA MARGINATA 
Plate 7, fig. 4 
The beauty of the Snow-on-the-Mountain is due to the white bor- 
der of the leaves and bracts, and not at all to the flowers, which are 
reduced to tiny stamens and pistils. A field of these plants with their 
snowy foliage makes clear the reason for the common name. They 
may be found all summer in abundance in the clay soil of pastures 
and roadsides at 4000-7000 ft., but should be handled with care since 
the milky juice is poisonous. Where it touches the skin, it often causes > 
itching and inflammation, accompanied with pimples and blisters very 
like those caused by poison ivy. This blistering action is so decided 
that the juice is said to be used to brand cattle in some parts of the 
West, as the scar heals more rapidly than one made by the branding 
iron. Honey made from the flowers is also poisonous, but since it is 
hot and disagreeable to the taste, it is not apt to be eaten. 
Snow-on-the-Mountain has considerable value as an ornamental 
plant for the garden, and it furnishes some rubber, though not in suffi- 
cient quantity to be commercially important. Other species of Euphor- 
bia, or spurge, were formerly used as cathartics and stimulants, but 
they are all too acrid for safe application, either externally or internal- 
ly. The small species are sometimes used to cauterize warts, but other 
means are more certain in their effect and less likely to cause injury 
to the surrounding skin. 
GERANIUM FAMILY 
STORKSBILL, ALFILARIA ERODIUM CICUTARIUM 
Plate 7, fig. 5 
The fruit of the Storksbill bears a fancied resemblance to the long 
beak of a crane or stork, and both the common and scientific names 
