2816
MERCURIALIS ambigua.
Ambiguous Mercury.
DIOECIA Enneandria.
Gen. Char. Perianth tripartite. Stam. 9—16, with
distinct globose cells. Styles 2. Capsule 2-
celled, cells 1-seeded.
Spec. Char. Annual. Stems with opposite branches.
Leaves lanceolate, unequally serrated and ciliated.
Barren and fertile flowers intermixed, in axillary
whorls.
Syn. Mercurialis ambigua. Linn, f il. Dec. 1. t. 8.
Linn. Sp. PI. 1465. Loisel. FI. Gall. v. 2. 350.
Reich. FI. Excurs. 764.
M. annua (3 ambigua. Bot. Gall. 417.
T l HIS plant is very nearly related to M. annua, from
which it may be distinguished by the characters given above.
It is a much more slender plant, its stems greatly branched
and roundish, with two slightly prominent angles, not of an
oval section, with two broad, prominent, somewhat flattened
ridges upon the sides, as will be found to be the case in M.
annua. Leaves lanceolate, rather thicker and more flaccid
than those of M. annua, serrated and ciliated in an irregular
manner. The flowers are axillary and whorled, the barren
and fertile ones intermixed, each having its own proper
pedicle ; the barren flowers much less numerous than the
others and usually placed below them. Fruit covered with
stiff hairs arising from much enlarged pellucid bases.
Two barren filaments are always present in the fertile
flower; they exceed the styles, and when the fruit is full
grown are about equal to it and lie concealed in the furrow