604 EUPHORBIACE^E eremocakpus 



ECPHOEBIA 



1 Eremocarpus Flowers not involucrate: staminate flowers with a 5-6- 



parted calyx; pistillate without: capsule 1-celled and 1-seeded. 



2 Euphorbia Flowers all without or with only a rudimentary calyx, 



subtended by a calyx-like involucre : capsule 3-celled. 



1 EREMOCARPUS Benth. Bot. Sulph. 53, t. 20. 



Low heavy-scented annuals with alternate entire petioled leaves 

 without stipules and small flowers in axillary clusters without an 

 involucre. Calyx of the staminate flowers 5- or 6-parted, slightly 

 imbricated. Stamens 6 or 7, central on the hairy receptacle; 

 filament* exserted: anthers inflexedin the hud Pistillate flowers 

 without calyx. Ovary with 4 or 5 glands at the base, 1-celled, 

 1-ovuled. Style simple, filiform, stigmatic at the apex. Capsule 

 2-valved. Seeds smooth and shining. Cotyledons broad, cor- 

 date, as long as the radicle. 



E. setigerus Benth. 1. c. Hoary throughout with a very dense stellate 

 pubescence and hispid with stiff spreading hairs: stem stout, dichotomous- 

 ly branched from the base, the branches mostly procumbent or ascending, 

 4-12 inches long: leaves thick ovate, obtuse, cuneate or rounded at base, 

 %-'l inches long, on long petioles, the upper crowded and apparently op- 

 posite or ternate: staminate flowers pedicelled: calyx with oblong obtuse 

 segments a line long: pistillate flowers in the lower axils, 1-3 together: 

 ovary and style densely pubescent: capsule obovate-oblong. 2 lines 1 >ng, 

 smooth and shining, filled by the seed. In dry valleys, eastern Washing- 

 ton to California. 



2 EUPHORBIA L. Sp. 450. 



Herbs or shrubs with alternate, opposite or verticillate leaves 

 and usually small monoecious flowers without floral envelopes but 

 subtended by a top-shaped or campanulate involucre. Staminate 

 flowers numerous, of a single naked stamen jointed upon a short 

 pedicel which has usually a minute bract at base : anther-cells 

 globose, distinct: pistillate flowers solitary in the center of the 

 involucre, pedicellate and soon exserted, Ovary 3-celled and 3- 

 ovuled: styles 3, usually 2-cleft. Cotyledons linear or ovate. 



E. serpyllifolia Pers. Syn. ii, 14. Glabrous dark green or reddish 

 annual : stem branched from the base, the slender branches prostrate or 

 ascending, 2-15 inches long: leaves oblong to spa tulate, 1-6 inches long, 

 obtuse or retuse, nearly entire or serrulate to below the middle, short- 

 petioled, the base oblique, mostly truncate or obtuse : stipules at length a 

 fringe of weak setae: involucres solitary in the axils, sometimes clustered 

 toward the ends of the branchlets, less than a line long, bearing 4 disk-like 

 glands, each subtended by a narrow lobed appendage: capsule a line broad, 

 slightly nodding: seeds ovoid, 4-angled, the face transversely wrinkled and 

 pitted. In dry soil Washington to California and v\ isconsin. 



Var. consanguinea Boiss. Branches erect: leaves with an obtuse 

 sharply serrate apex: lobes of the involucres lacerate: seeds darker and 

 more nearly ovate, less sharp on the angles. Range of the type. 



E. ftreenei Millsp Pitt, ii, 88. Glabrous annual, radiately branched 

 from the base, the branches prostrate and divaricately much branched, 5- 

 6 inches long : stipules triangular at base, lacerate, leaves ovate, entire, 

 oblique, mucronulate: involucres solitary in the axils, on peduncles twice 



