Endospermum EUPHORBIACEAE 215 
flowers) anthers persisting. Seeds ovoid,c.7mmlong. _ and in Cape York and the DR in northern Australia. 
Flowering: not known; fruiting: Oct - Nov. Fig. 71 Uncommon in the DR where known from Melville 
Is., Channel Point, Reynolds R. and Black Jungle 
Found from New Guinea to the Solomon Islands, — where it grows in wet rainforests. 
EUPHORBIA L. 
B.G. Thomson (partly) 
Trees, shrubs or herbs with milky latex. Stipules minute or absent. Cauline leaves opposite, alternate or 
whorled, usually simple. Floral leaves opposite. Flowers much reduced, aggregated into a specialised 
inflorescence called a cyathium which consists of 1 female flower surrounded by several smaller male 
flowers, all enclosed in an involucre of connate bracts; nectary glands alternate with bracts and often with 
petaloid appendages. Male flowers: reduced to a single stamen. Female flowers: naked, pedicellate; ovary 
3-locular, ovules 1 per locule; styles 3, shortly connate at base, each 2-lobed. Fruit a schizocarp, splitting into 
3 mericarps. Seeds with or without a caruncle. 
A genus of c. 2000 species worldwide; c. 57 species in Australia with c. 31 in the NT and 10 in the DR. The 
genus is treated here in the broad sense and includes species which may otherwise be included in Chamaesyce 
S.F.Gray and Poinsettia R.Grah. : 
KEY BASED ON VEGETATIVE CHARACTERS 
1. Leaves alternate 9 
1. Leaves opposite 2 
2. Leaves mostly linear-oblong E. vachellii 
2. —_ Leaves Otherwise ...ccccscssssssssssscsessessssessecsececeessesscsscsusesssessecsecsscnccnecnsonsascsscanssssssenecscenseneneenss 3 
3. Plants herbaceous, usually annual ...........cccccseeeeseceeeeseseereeeees 4 
3. Plants suffruticose, roots at least perennial 7 
4. — Leaves glabrous, blades pale bDelOW ........:.cscsessssseseseseeeetesssessseseeteneseneneenenenenensnsananensneneeees E. armstrongiana 
4. Leaves puberulous to glabrescent .........cccsescsesseseseseserenenerensesesesssssesenenenenenensesensneneneneneegaes 5 
5. Leaf blades'<8 mm JON g)..........cccceseccesnsocsssesescescscesessscessssscessiecssucassvcncsvcnscececcesoseyssssee¥itysece E. chamaesyce 
DS Leaf blades >8 mm long 6 
6. Leaf blades 9-14 mm 1Ong 1.0.00... .ccsscessssssccsssseccnssssacessosscsscessscessecessnepsetsassceacsccatececsasers sence E. schultzii 
6. Leaf blades 13-35 mm long E. hirta 
(sume DlantegclabrouSeestrensectssrsitirerstiettccsresstertearereretertrisrstiersicretierterssstelvicedttestseceresasesetesrssesssas 8 
7. Plant hairy E. schizolepis 
8. Aerial stems annual, prostrate; open forest .. ‘ E. muelleri 
8. Aerial stems perennial, erect; beach Cunes .........c.cccesesssessssssesesescseseesecsesessssseseeneseseseeeenes E. atoto 
9. Larger leaves lobed; floral leaves red at DaS€ .........ccsceccssessssssesesesescssssseeessseseseneeeeenesenss E. cyathophora 
9. All leaves entire; floral leaves usually green ...............cssessesseessrsessecsecenseccesesscsssossessseseess E. heterophylla 
KEY BASED ON REPRODUCTIVE CHARACTERS 
1. Leaves alternate or spirally arranged (occasionally absent), those subtending 
the inflorescence opposite; cyathial gland | 2 
1. Leaves all opposite; cyathial glands 4 .......cccscecssessssesessessssssesesessessssesesssssesseseesssesssseseenes 3 
