ACALYPHA. 



EUPH0RBIACEJ5. 



173 



1. ACALYPHA. Linn. ; Adr. Juss. Euphorb. p. 45. t. 14./. 46 ; Endl. gen. 2787. 



THREE-SEEDED MERCURY. 

 [ The Greek name for the Nettle ; which this genus much resembles.] 



Flowers monoecious. Sterile fl. very minute. Calyx 4-parted. Stamens 8 - 16 : filaments 

 short, united at the base : anther-cells distinct, vermiform, suspended from near the summit 

 of the filament. Fertile fl. Calyx 3-parted. Styles 3, irregularly and finely laciniate. 

 Capsule tricoccous ; the carpels roundish, 2-valved, 1-seeded. Seeds roundish, strophiolate. 

 — Mostly herbs, but sometimes shrubs or trees, with alternate stipulate serrate leaves. 

 Flowers axillary or terminal, with an involucre-like bract at the base ; the sterile glomerate, 

 in stipitate spikes ; the fertile 1-3, seated in a large usually lobed bract. 



1. Acalypha Virginica, Linn. Common Three-seeded Mercury. 



Herbaceous ; leaves ovate, obtusely serrate, on long petioles ; flowers axillary ; bracts 

 somewhat stipitate, roundish-cordate, concave, unequally and incisely lobed ; staminate spike 

 shorter than the bract, or only slightly exserted, with the fertile flowers at the base. — Linn, 

 sp. 2. p. 1003 ; Michx. fl. 2. p. 215 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 604 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 645 ; Bigel. fl. 

 Bost. p. 364 ; Torr. compend. p. 361 ; Beck, hot. p. 311 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 550. 



var. angustifolia : leaves oblong -lanceolate, crenately serrate, on short petioles ; sterile 

 spikes longer than the bracts. 



Annual. Stem 6-18 inches high, more or less pubescent, slender, terete, sparingly 

 branched. Leaves 1-3 inches long and 1 — 15 inch wide (in var. angustifolia 3-6 lines), 

 pubescent, except when the plant grows in shady places, when they are nearly smooth : 

 petiole from three-fourths of an inch to nearly an inch long j in the var. scarcely half as long. 

 Spikes androgynous, one or two in each axil, sometimes proliferous. Bract leafy, cleft below 

 the middle into 5 — 9 unequal lanceolate lobes, enclosing 1-3 sessile pistillate flowers and a 

 spike of staminate flowers ; of the pistillate, usually only one is fertile : styles cut into 3-5 

 fine segments. Staminate spike on a rather stout peduncle, which sometimes bears a second 

 bract which is smaller than the first, enclosing one or more pistillate flowers. Sterile flowers 

 minute, nearly sessile. Segments of the calyx ovate. Stamens about 10. Capsule hairy; 

 the carpels opening elastically by two valves. Seeds ovoid, brownish, often spotted, with a 

 crest or caruncle at the hilum. 



Fields, open woods and roadsides ; very common ; the var. angustifolia on the Island of 

 New-York. Fl. July - August. Fr. September. 



