E U P H O R B I A punicea.
Scarlet Spurge.
D O D E C A N D R I A Trigynia,
E ssent . C har. Corolla o f 4 or 5 petals, inferted on the calyx . Calyx o f a fingl*» leaf,
inflated. Capfule three-lobed.
Sedlion 6. Umbel five-rayed.
Spe cif ic C har. Umbel five-riyedi then three-rayed: partial involucra oval, pointed,
coloured: capfules fmooth: leaves qbovatq-lanjceolate.
Syn. E. punicea. Swartz. Prod. 76. Aiton Hort. Kew. v. 2. 143.
Difcovered in Jamaica, but Sparingly, by Matthew Wallen, Efq. who firnt to the late Marquis o f Rockingham,
in the year 1778, the plant from which our fig u re is drawn, and which f ii ll continues to flower in
great beauty in the colleBion o f the Marchionefs. \ '■
S tem the height o f a man, fhrubby, rather flefhy, full o f milky juice, round, abruptly branched.
Branches curved upwards, three together: fm aller branches iometimes 4 or 5 together. Bark
fmooth, whitilh, marked with fpots or fears where former leaves have grown.
L eaves on the fummits o f the lefler branches, crowded together, almoft feffile, fpreading in every
direction, obovato-lanceolate, bluntiih, ending in a fmall point, fmooth, opaque, dark green,
glaucous underneath; the younger ones turned inwards, and thofe neareft the umbels coloured.
Principal Nerve o f all the leaves dull yellow, and in the younger ones near the umbels it is
befides ftained with red. Stipula none.
Umbels terminal, erefl, in 5 ,6, or 7 rays. Flower Jtalks club-ihaped, fmooth, forked. Partial involucra
.two or lhree together under each flower, oppofite, oval, pointed, o f a moil v iv id fcarlet.
F low ers folitaiy, urn-ihaped, yellowifh, foon turning reddifh.
Cal yx o f one leaf, inflated, five-toothed, permanent.
Pe tals five, um-fhaped, thick, truncated, divaricated, placed alternately with the teeth o f the
calyx, and inferted into its margin, yellow, permanent, and full o f very fweet pellucid honey.
Stam in a about 15 or 20 fertile, many abortive. Filaments round, with a joint about the middle,
red in the upper part. Anthera two-lobed, yellow.
Pistillum. Germen on a footftalk, reflexed, roundiih, three lobed, fmooth. Styles three, reflexed,
red. Stigmata fimple. Receptacle occupied b y chaffy branched filaments.
Capsule fmooth, green, three-lobed, with three cells;
OBSERVATIONS;