138 WILD FLOWERS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 
Flower-heads in clusters (umbels). 
Glands of involucre rounded, entire ; leaves alternate, without stipules. 
(2) Sun Spurge. (Euphorbia Helioscopia.) — Capsules smooth ; leaves blunt and toothed. 
(3) Broad-leaved Spurge. (Euphorbia platyphyl'los.) — Capsule with round warts ; leaves 
pointed and toothed. 
(4) Upright Spurge. (Euphorbia stric'ta.) — 1-2 male flowers only in each head; capsule with 
long conical warts ; leaves toothed. 
(5) Irish Spurge. (Euphorbia hiber'na.) — Glands kidney-shaped ; capsules with cylindrical 
warts ; leaves entire. 
(6) *Sweet Spurge. (Euphorbia dul'cis.) — Capsule with a few prominent warts ; floral-leaves 
triangular. 
(7) *Coral Spurge. (Euphorbia coralloides.) — Capsule woolly without warts; leaves 
toothed. 
(8) Hairy Spurge. (Euphorbia pilosa.) — Flower-cluster loose; capsules with a few small 
purple warts with white silky hairs ; leaves toothed. 
Glands of involucre crescent-shaped ; leaves alternate without stipules. 
(9) Wood Spurge. (Euphorbia amygdaldides.) — Floral-leaves united into a cup ; capsule 
smooth, with minute white warts. 
(10) *Leafy-branched Spurge. (Euphorbia £sula.) — Flower-cluster with 8-20 branches; 
capsules rough. 
(n) *Cyprus Spurge. (Euphorbia Cyparis'sias.) — Flower-cluster so dense as to look like 
a head ; leaves strap-shaped. 
(12) Sea Spurge. (Euphorbia Pardlias.) — Maritime. Involucral glands with short horns; 
capsule smooth ; leaves thick. 
(13) Portland Spurge. (Euphorbia portlindica.) — Maritime. Involucral glands with long 
pointed horns ; capsule with 3 ridges of dots ; leaves thin. 
(14) Petty Spurge. (Euphorbia Pep'lus.) — Umbel of 3 rays; stem about 9 inches high; 
leaves broad, stalked. 
(15) Dwarf Spurge. (Euphorbia exig'ua.) — Umbel of usually 3 rays; stem about 6 inches 
high ; leaves strap-shaped. 
Glands of involucre crescent-shaped ; leaves opposite, without stipules. 
(16) Caper Spurge. (Euphorbia Lath'yrus.) — Capsule £ inch long; each pair of leaves 
at right angles to its neighbour. 
1 . Purple OP Red Spurge. (Euphdrbia Pep'lis. Linn.)— As just described. Avery 
easily recognised maritime species, being the only one in the British Isles which has solitary heads 
of flowers. These flower-heads are shortly stalked, solitary in the axils of the upper leaves and 
in the forks of the branches ; the glands of the involucre are rounded ; the capsules are smooth ; 
the stems are numerous from the crown of the root, branched, and prostrate on the sand, forming 
patches of 6-12 inches in diameter; the leaves are opposite, shortly stalked, oblong, blunt, 
slightly heart-shaped at the base, nearly entire, fleshy, and with minute stipules. The whole plant 
has a bluish bloom (glaucous) and is stained with purple-red. 
Very rare. On sandy sea-shores ; in the south-west of England and Wales, in County Waterford 
in Ireland, and in the Channel Isles. July — September. Annual. 
