atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

terminal branching clusters (cymes); involucres of cyathea usually 1.7 to 2.3 mm long,
glands with minute appendages; fruit, about 3 mm long, a glabrous, dehiscent capsule;
seeds, small, smooth, released when dry fruit opens. Spreading shrub on seashore.
2(38.5), 3, 5(106), 6, 7.
Euphorbia cyathophora Murr. "painted leaf", "Mexican fire plant", "hypocrite
plant", "wild poinsettia", "Christmas bush", "dwarf poinsettia"
deriba, deribeh (N); te kabekau (K)
syns. E. heterophylla L. var. cyathophora (Murr.) Griseb.; Poinsettia cyatho-
phora (Murr.) K1. & Gke.
Pre-World War I1 introduction. Trop. America. Occasional. Erect annual herb, up
to 80 cm or higher, with glabrous, green, longitudinally-grooved stems, sparingly
pubescent young shoots and white latex; leaves, 3 to 8 cm long and 1.5 to 3.5 cm wide,
alternate below, opposite above or in threes, somewhat fiddle-shaped (pandurate),
pinnately, sharply and shortly 2- to 4-lobed, usually with a deep, rounded notch or
incision on each margin, those of the basal leaves sometimes simply ovate, entire or
obscurely distantly serrate, mostly glabrous, the upper leaves crowded beneath the
flowers, the uppermost, bract-like leaves near the flowers with a bright red basal blotch;
petioles, 1 to 4 cm long, slender; flowers, monoecious, small, inconspicuous, greenish,
petal-less, in cyathia packed in short terminal clusters (cymes), 2 to 4 cm wide; involucre
of cyathium, 3 to 5 mm long, on a stalk of equal length, cup-shaped, 5-lobed, green,
enclosing several male flowers and 1 female flower, and bearing a funnel-shaped gland
with a large elongated opening, about 1.5 cm long; male flowers, tiny, numerous,
surrounding the female flower and reduced to a single stamen, anthers, yellow; female
flowers, one per cyathium, consisting of a stalked, 3-lobed ovary; fruit, 3 to 5 mm long,
glabrous, subglobose, 3-lobed capsule (schizocarp), splitting at maturity into three 1-
seeded segments; seeds, 2 to 2.5 mm across, dark brown, tuberculate, obovoid or
globose, basally flattened, apically subconic. Roadside and waste place weed. 1 (23.R), 2,
3(58628), 4(104N), 5(31), 6, 7(27818), 8(9556).
Euphorbia geniculata Ortega "wild spurge"
Recent introduction. Texas, Mexico and the W. Indies. Occasional. Erect annual
herb, to about 60 cm or higher, with somewhat hairy, green hollow stems and white
latex; leaves, 3 to 8 cm and 1.5 to 3.5 cm wide, basal and apical leaves opposite, other
leaves alternate, entire, ovate or oblong-rhomboidal, acute-acuminate, obscurely dentate
toward base, lower leaves all green, glaucous beneath, the uppermost bract-like leaves
nar the flo~ers-with~w hkor- pinkbasal pethks, IUcLcm-long-flowers,
monoecious, small, inconspicuous, greenish, petal-less, in cyathia packed in short
terminal clusters (cymes), 2 to 4 cm long; involucre of cyathium, cup-shaped, 5- to 7-
lobed, green, enclosing several male flowers and 1 female flower, and bearing a single
funnel-shaped gland at one side; male flowers, tiny, numerous, surrounding the female