396 THE SPURGE FAMILY, (Euphorbia. 
with rather long, spreading styles. Capsules more or less covered with 
warts or soft prickles. 
In woods and shady places, throughout Europe and Russian Asia, except 
the extreme north. Abundant in England, and a great part of Scotland, 
very rare in Ireland. fF, early spring, commencing before its leaves are 
Sully out. 
2, M. annua, Linn. (fig. 896). Annual Mercury.—An erect, glabrous 
annual, 6 inches to a foot high, with opposite branches. Leaves stalked, 
ovate or oblong, rather coarsely toothed, of a thin texture. Male flowers 
clustered, as in MW. perennis, along slender peduncles nearly as long as the 
leaves. Females 2 or 3 together, either sessile or shortly stalked, in the 
axils of the leaves, usually on separate plants from the males. 
In cultivated and waste places; very common in central and southern 
Europe and eastward to the Caucasus, more rare towards the north, and 
only as an introduced weed of cultivation in Scandinavia. Not generally 
common in England or Ireland, very local and doubtfully indigenous in 
Scotland. Fl. the whole summer and autumn. A variety with more sessile 
leaves and flowers, the latter often moncecious, has been described as a 
species, under the name of M. ambigua. It is not common, even on the 
Continent, but has been found in Jersey and in the south of England, 
— 
III. BUXUS. BOX. 
Flowers monececious, the males and females clustered in the same axil, 
but not enclosed in a common involucre. VPerianth small, of 4 segments, 
Stamens 4 in the male flowers. Styles 3 in the females. Capsule 3-celled, 
with 2 seeds in each cell. 
A genus limited to a single European, and a few exotic species. 
1, B. sempervirens, Linn. (fig. 897). Common Box.—A glabrous, 
much branched, evergreen shrub, attaining 6 or 8 feet in height when left 
uncut. Leaves opposite, entire, thick and shining, varying from ovate to 
oblong, 3 to 1 inch long. Flowers small, green and sessile, usually several 
males and one or two females in the same axillary cluster, the former with 
one small bract under the perianth, the female with 3 bracts. Capsule 
sessile, ovoid, of a hard consistence, about 3 or 4 lines long, ending in 3 
stiff, short beaks. 
In hilly, rocky, chiefly limestone districts, in western and southern Europe, 
extending eastward to the Himalaya and Japan, and northward into many 
parts of central and western France. In Britain, only in some localities in 
southern England, and even there it is doubted whether it may not have 
been introduced, as it has long been much planted in shrubberies. £7. 
spring. The Bow used for edging i in gardens i is a dwarf variety of the same 
species. 
LXIX. EMPETRACEA, THE EMPETRUM FAMILY. 
A family or genus of six or seven European or North 
American species, whose affinities have not been satisfactorily 
made out. The structure and position of the seeds prevent 
