260 



EUPHORBIACEiE. 



ish or whitish, silky, forming an involucre to the flowers, caducous. 

 Perianth slightly oblique, tubular below, expanded into a short throat 

 above. Stamens 8, 4 exserted, the alternate shorter, inserted at the 

 base of the throat. Style slender, exceeding the stamens. Fruit 

 drupe-like, reddish. (Classical Greek name of a celebrated fountain 

 in Bceotia.) 



1. D. occidentalis Gray. Western Leatherwood. An erect 

 shrub, 2 to 4 ft. high, with very tough stems and leathery bark; 

 flowers yellow, in clusters of 2 or 3 from lateral and terminal buds, 

 nodding; perianth-tube 2 or 3 lines long, greenish, expanding above 

 into a distinct throat about 1 line long, the limb 4-cleft; ovary 

 slightly oblique. 



Northerly slopes in canons. Nov. -Feb. The color of the mature 

 fruit has not been observed by the author. 



58. EUPHORBIACE/E. Spurge Family. 



Ours herbs, or one species somewhat suffrutescent. Leaves simple, 

 stipulate or exstipulate. Flowers (in ours) monoecious, always apeta- 

 lous, often naked, i. e., destitute of calyx as well, sometimes 

 exceedingly reduced and enclosed in a calyx-like involucre. Stamens 

 1 to many. Ovary superior, 3 or 1-celled, with one or two pendulous 

 ovules in each cell. Styles or stigmas as many or twice as many as 

 the cells of the ovary. Capsule commonly 3-lobed, 3 or 2-valved. 

 Embryo straight, the flat cotyledons almost as wide as the fleshy or 

 oily endosperm. 



Flowers with a true calyx, not borne in an involucre; herbage densely 

 stellate-pubescent. 

 Upper leaves opposite; staminate flowers in corymbs; capsule 1-celled . . 



1. Eremocarpus. 



Leaves all alternate; starninate flowers in racemes; capsule 3-celled . . . 



2. Croton. 



Flowers borne in a calyx-like involucre, which has 4 or 5 teeth and bears 

 more or less petal-like glands; true calyx none; capsule 3-celled 



3. Euphorbia. 



1. EREMOCARPUS Benth. 



A low annual with entire 3-nerved leaves without stipules. Stami- 

 nate flowers in corymbs; calyx 5 to 6-parted; stamens 6 or 7 on a 

 hairy receptacle; filaments exserted. Pistillate flowers 1 or few in 

 the lower axils, without calyx; ovary 1-celled, with 4 or 5 small 

 glands at the base; style undivided, stigmatic at apex; capsule 

 2-valved, 1-seeded. (Greek eremos, solitary, and karpos, fruit.) 



1. E. setigerus Benth. Turkey Mullein. Herbage gray 

 with an appressed stellate pubescence and rough with spreading 

 hispid hairs; stems dichotomously branched, procumbent or prostrate 

 and forming a close mat 1 to 2 ft. wide or more, rarely with ascending 

 branches; leaves alternate or the upper opposite, thick, ovate, the 

 smaller varying to almost round, £ to 1£ in. long, the petioles nearly 

 as long or longer; staminate flowers pediceled, the oblong segments 

 of the" calyx 1 line long; pistillate flowers in clusters of 1 to 3, the 



