ƒ [ 2002 ]
E U P H O R B I A Peplis.
Purple Spurge.
DODECANDRIA Tri.gyn.ia.
Gen. Char. Cal. of 1 leaf, inflated, inferior. Nectaries
4 or 5, standing on the calyx. Caps, stalked,
3-lcbed.
Spec. Char. Leaves nearly entire, half-heartshaped.
Flowers solitary, axillary. Stems procumbent.
Capsule smooth.
Syn. Euphorbia Peplis. Linn. Sp. PI. 652. Sm..Fl.
Bril. 514. Huds. 207. With. 446. Hull. 105.
eel. 2. 140.
Tithymalus maritimus supinus annuus, Peplis dictus.
Raii Syn. 313.
.A. PRODUCTION of no other parts of this island than the
sandy sea shores of Cornwall and Devonshire, of which fresh
wild specimens have been communicated to us from between
Tor quay and Payngton, Tor bay, by our very intelligent young
friend Mr. Charles Sinclair Cullen, last September.
Root annual, deeply fixed in the sand. Stems several, procumbent,
widely spreading, repeatedly branched and forked in
an alternate manner, leafy ; roundish when fresh ; quadrangular
when dry. Leaves opposite, on short stalks, half-heart-
shaped, obtuse, single-ribbed, often quite entire, sometimes
finely toothed at the base and summit. Stipulas small, intra-
foliaceous, in several setaceous segments. Flowerstalks from
the forks of the stem or bosoms of the upper leaves, solitary,
single-flowered, curved. Flowers small, with four entire,
roundish, umbilicated, yellow or red nectaries. Capsule turned
downwards, smooth, discharging the seeds elastically as it
dries. Seeds smooth.
The whole herb is very milky, smooth, either of a livid
glaucous green thickly dotted with crimson, or more frequently
the stems and stalks are entirely of the latter colour, the
flowers and fruit being more faintly stained with it. The less
luxuriant plants are, as Mr. Cullen observes, most highly
coloured.
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