436 EUPHOKBIACE^E. (SPURGE FAMILY.) 



1. J. tirens, L., var. stimuldsa, J. Miiller. (Tread-softly. Spurge- 

 Nettle.) Herbaceous, from a long perennial root, branching (6' -2° high) ; 

 leaves roundish-heart-shaped, 3 - 5-lobed ; the divisions toothed, cut, or even pin- 

 natifid, often discolored; flowers slender; filaments 10, monadelphous only at 

 the woolly base, or the outer set almost distinct. (J. stimulosa, Michx. Cni- 

 doscolus stimulosus, Ed. 2.) — Dry sandy soil, Virginia on the coast, and south- 

 ward. June - Sept. 



3. STILLINGIA, Garden. Stillingia. 



Flowers monoecious, aggregated in a terminal spike. Petals and glands of 

 the disk none. Calyx 2 - 3-cleft or parted ; the divisions imbricated in the bud. 

 Stamens 2 or 3 : anthers adnate, turned outwards. Style thick : stigmas 3, di- 

 verging, simple. Pod 3-celled, 3-lobed, 3-seeded. Seed carunculate. — Smooth 

 upright plants, with the alternate leaves mostly 2-glandular at the base ; the 

 fertile flowers few at the base of the dense sterile spike (rarely separate) ; the 

 bract for each cluster with a gland on each side. (Named for Dr. B. StilUnrjfleet.) 



1. S. Sylvatiea, L. Herbaceous (l°-3° high) ; leaves almost sessile, ob- 

 long-lanceolate, serrulate ; glands of the spike saucer-shaped. — Sandy and dry 

 soil, E. Virginia and southward. June- Sept. 



4. ACALYPHA, L. Three-seeded Mercury. 



Flowers monoecious ; the sterile very small, clustered in spikes, with the few 

 or solitary fertile flowers at their base, or sometimes in separate spikes. Calyx 

 of the sterile flowers 4-parted and valvate in the bud ; of the fertile 3 - 5-parted. 

 Corolla none. Stamens 8-16: filaments short, monadelphous at the base: 

 nther-cells separate, long, often worm-shaped, hanging from the apex of the 

 filament. Styles 3, the upper face or stigmas cut-fringed (usually red). Pod 

 separating into 3 globular carpels which split into 2 valves, rarely of only one 

 carpel. — Herbs (ours annuals), or in the tropics often shrubs, with the appear- 

 ance of Nettles or Amaranths ; the leaves alternate, petioled, with stipules. 

 Clusters of sterile flowers with a minute bract ; the fertile surrounded by a 

 large and leaf-like cut-lobed persistent bract. ('AxaX^r;, an ancient name of 

 the Nettle.) 



* Fruit smooth or merely pubescent : seeds nearly smooth. 



1. A. Virgilliea, L. Leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, obtusely and sparsely 

 serrate, long-petioled ; sterile spike rather few-flowered, mostly shorter than the 

 deeply palm ate! y-cl eft fruiting bracts. — Fields and open places : common. 

 July -Sept. — A homely weed, l°-2° high, smoothish or rather hairy, often 

 turning purplish in autumn. Fertile flowers 1 - 3 in each axil, along with the 

 small and short-peduncled sterile spike : bracts large and leaf-like, unequally 

 cut into 5-9 lanceolate lobes. — Passes by various forms (belonging to var. 

 intermedia, J. Miill.) into 



Var. graeilens, with lanceolate or even linear leaves, less toothed and 

 shorter-petioled ; the slender sterile spike often 1 ' long, and much surpassing 

 the less cleft or few-toothed fruiting bracts. (A. graeilens, Ed. 1 %- 2. A. Vir- 

 giniana, var. gracilescGns, J. Miill. A. monocdeca, Engelm., a reduced form with 



