SPUEGE FAMILY. 



287 



1. PHOEADEN'DRON, Nutt. Mistletoe. 



[Greek, p/wr, a thiei, and dendron, tree ; because tliey steal their food from the trees they 

 grow upon.] 



Flowers didcious, usually several under each short and fleshy bract or 

 scale, and sunk in the joint. Calyx globular, 3- (rarely 2 - 4-) lobed. 

 Stamixate Fl. with a sessile anther at the base of each lobe, transversely 

 2-celled. Stigma sessile. Berry globular, 1-seeded, with a gummy viscid 

 pulp. S:em and branches jointed ; flowers greenish, in short axillary 

 spikes. 



1. P, flaves'eens, ^^utt. Leaves elliptic-obovate, obtuse, somewhat 

 longer than the spikes in their axils, somewhat petioled, yellowish-green ; 

 berries pearly-white. 



Yellowish Phoradexdrox. Mistletoe. False Mistletoe. 



Sfem 9-18 inches high, terete, much branched; branches opposite. Leaver H-^-K 

 inch long-, S-nerved beneath, smooth, fleshy or somewhat leathrey, narrowed at base to a 

 thickish terete petiole 1-2 lines in length. Flowers small. 



Branches of trees ; Xew Jersey, South and West. April. 



Ohs. This well-known parasite, feeding as it does at the expense of 

 the trees upon which it fastens itself, is in some places so abundant as to 

 be injurious to valuable forest trees. In some parts of the West it proves 

 very troublesome. Doct. Short writes that the severe winters of the few 

 fears just past had killed it out in Kentucky ; but that now it is again 

 .)verrunniug the Elms, Hickories, Wild Cherries, &c., of that region. * 



Order LXIII. EUPHORBIA' CE.^. (Spurge Family.) 



Plants usually with an acnd viilTcy juice, mostly simple leaves, with small and deciduous 

 stipules or none, and various, usually monoecious or dioecious fiovxrs ; the fruit of 2-3 or 

 several 1-2-seeded pods united around a central axis, separating when ripe. Seed sus- 

 pended; evihryo hi fiQsliy albumen. Stigmas 2 -3 or more, often forked. Calyx usually 

 valvate in the bud, sometimes vranting. Petals sometimes present 



This large and varied — yet essentially natural Family — comprises upwards of 100 

 genera, — many of them possessing very active properties, or otherwise curious and inter- 

 esting. Of these may be mentioned, tlae Croton Tiglium, L., which yields the powerful 

 Croton Oil or Oil of Tiglium, — the .Jatropha Manihot, L., which alTords the Cassava 

 and Tapioca, — the Crozophora tinctoria, .Juss., yielding Turnsol, — the Siphonia elastica, 

 Per?., affording the true Caoutchouc or Gum elastic, — the Buxus seraporvirens, L., afford- 

 ing the beautiful Box-wood, — the Hura crepitans, L., or curious Sand-box tree, &c., &;c. 



1. EUPHOR'BIA, L. Spurge. 



[Xamed after EupTiorlus, physician to King Juba of Mauritania.] 



Flowers monoecious, included in a cup-shaped 4 - 5-lobed involuc.s re- 

 sembling a calyx or corolla, with glands at its sinuses. Stamixate Fl. 

 numerous, lining the base of the involucre, each from the axil of a little 

 brad, and consisting of a single stamen jointed on a pedicel ; anther cells 

 globular, separate. Pistillate Fl. solitary, in the middle of the involu- 

 cre, soon protruded on a long pedicel, consisting of a naked 3-lobed, 3- 

 celled ovary; styles 3, bifid. Capsule separating into 3 carpe/s which 



