DESCRIPTION OP MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
77 
PIPERACEiE (Pepper Family.) 
Saururus ceriums, L. Lizzard’s Tail. Perennial marsh herb, 
with heart-shaped; converging-ribbed, petioled leaves, with- 
out distinct stipules. Flowers crowded in a slender, wand- 
like and naked-peduncled terminal spike, white, fragrant. 
Spike nodding at the end. Stamens 6-7, with long capillary 
filaments. Destitute of floral envelopes ; 3-5 indehiscent 
carpels united to a somewhat fleshy fruit. FI. July-August. 
Very abundant in stagnant waters. U. S. Ph. The herb. 
EUPHORBIACEiE. (Spurge Family.) 
Euphorbia hypericifolia, Grey, Man. E. Preslii, Guss. Decum- 
bent, ascending or erect annual, smooth or with scattered hairs ; 
leaves opposite, oblique at the obtuse or slightly cordate base, 
ovate oblong, sometimes falcate, serrate J-lP long, often with 
a red spot or red margins; stipules 3-angular ; peduncles longer 
than the petioles, collected in loose leafy terminal cymes. 
Appendages entire. Flowers monoecious, included in a cup- 
shaped 4-5-lobed involucre resembling a calyx or corolla, 
bearing large thick glands with petal-like margins at sin- 
uses. Sterile flowers numerous and lining the base of the 
involucre, each from the axil of a little bract, and consisting 
merely of a single stamen jointed on a pedicel like the fila- 
ment; anther-cells globular, separate. Fertile flower solitary 
in the middle of the involucre, soon protruded on a long ped- 
icel, consisting of a 3-lobed and 3-celled ovary with no calyx 
or mere vestige. Styles 3, each 2-cleft, the stigmas 6. Pod 
separating into 3, 1-seeded capsules, which split elastically 
into 2 valves. In cornfields, covering the whole surface. U. 
S. Ph. The herb. 
Euphorbia corollata, L. Large Flowering Spurge. Erect 
perennial, with entire leaves equal at base ; only the up- 
permost leaves whorled or opposite, glabrous, lanceolate or 
linear, entire, obtuse. Stipules none. Involucres 5-lobed, 
in the forks of the branches, and terminal; long peduncled, 
with showy white appendages (appearing like petals), the 
