6. RIC'INUS, Tourn. Castor Oil Plant. (Lat. ricinus, a bug; from the resemblance of the seeds.) Flowers 8 , apetalous; calyx 3 to 5-parted, valvate in the bud; stamens ∞, with irregularly united filaments; style short, stigmas 3, 2-parted, plumous, colored; capsule echinate, 3-lobed, 3-celled, 3-seeded. - Herbs or shrubs.

R. communis L. St frosted or glaucous, white, herbaceous; lvs. peltate, palmate, lobes lanceolate, serrate; caps, prickly. - Native of the E. Indies, where it becomes a tree, although an herbaceous annual in the N. States. In Ga. La. and Fla. it is a stout shrub! St. tall, smooth, of a light bluish green color. Lvs. 4 to 12" diam., on long petioles. From its seeds is expressed the well known castor oil of the shops. For this purpose it is extensively cultivated in the S. and W. States. - The purgative property resides in the embryo, not in the albumen.

7. CRO'TON, L. (Name in Greek of the same import as Ricinus.) Flowers 8; calyx 4 or 5-parted, cylindric-valvate in bud; corolla of 4 or 5 petals, often small; stamens 5 to 20; calyx 5, rarely 8-cleft; corolla often minute or none; styles 3, once or repeatedly forked; capsule 3-lobed, 3-celled, 3-carpeled, carpels 1-seeded. - Plants clothed with scurf, down or wool, usually glandular and aromatic. Hairs stellate. Lvs. alternate.

1 C. monanthogynum Mx. Stellately pubescent, tri- and dichotomously branched, slender; lvs. on slender petioles, ovate and ovate-oblong, broad and sometimes subcordate at base, mucronulate, entire, silvery beneath; fls. in the forks, the sterile 2 or 3 in a little erect, stalked head; the fertile mostly solitary in the same axil, recurved; fr. 2-seeded. - Prairies, Pike Co., Ill. (Holton) and south-westward. Herb near If high, lvs. 1' long. Fls. very small Jn. - Sept.

2 C. glandulostun L. Hispid, glandular, tri- (or 4)-chotomously branched • lvs. clustered at the forks, petiolate, lance-oblong or linear-oblong, serrate, bearing 2 cup-shaped glands at base; fls. in small clusters, sessile in the forks and terminal, the fertile at the base, 5-parted, the sterile 4-parted, octandrous. - In fields and waste grounds, Ill. to Va., Ga. and La. A straggling herb 1 to 3f high. Lvs.

1 to 2' long. Sd. light ash-colorcd. Jn. - Sept.

3 C. argyranthemum Mx. Clothed with glandular scales, branched at base; lvs oval or oblong, tapering to a petiole, obtuse, entire, silvery beneath; fls. in a. capitate, terminal spike, silvery whitish all over, fertile at base, 5-parted, with 3 styles, each 3-cleft at top; sterile 5-parted, octandrous. - Sandy soils, Ga. (Wayne Co., Dr. Town) and Fla. (Tallahassee!). Sts. 9 to 18' high, simple, often clustered. Lvs. 1' to 18" long, half to a third as wide. Scales stellate, with a central gland. Fls. short-pediceled. Apr. - Jn.

4 C. maritimum Walt Half shrubby, diffusely and trichotomously branched, branches clothed with a steilular tomentum; lvs. broadly oval, obtuse, entire, sub-cordate, pale above, silvery beneath, petiolate; fls. in dense spikes, terminal and in the forks, the sterile many, the fertile commonly 2 at the base; caps, to-mentous. - Drifting sands along the seacoast, S. Car. to Fla. and Tex. (Engel-man). Sts. straggling and spreading 2 to 3f Lvs. shining with a silvery scurf, not hairy beneath, nearly as broad as long.

5 C. capitatum Mx. Annual, woolly or tomentous, hoary, branched; lvs. long-petioled, oval-oblong, obtuse, entire, rounded at base; fls. in terminal, capitate clusters, the fertile at the base, with a large (8" diam.) 8-cleft calyx; stamens 10 to 12. - Dry barrens of Ill. to La. Also in N. J. (Kniskern in Gray's Manual) Herb 1 to 2f high. Lvs. 18" to 2' long, often rather lanceolate and acutisb, scarcely longer than their petioles. Soeds polished, cinerous-brown, mottled. Jn. - Sept.

6 C. Lindheimeri Eng. & Gray. Shrubby, erect, trichotomously branched, clothed with a dense, hoary tomentum, lvs. oblong-lanceolate, rounded or sul-cordate at base, acute, entire, lower petioles elongated; spikes terminal and in the forks, mixed or separate, sterile fls. many, sessile, fertile larger, 2 or 3 at the base or alone; cal. very woolly, 7 or 8-parted; styles 3, twice or thrice forked, red; ova. very villous. - Sands, near the coast, La., Tex. Shrub 2 to If high, lvs.

2 to 3' long. Fls. a mass of rusty wool, 5" broad.

8. CROTONOP'SIS, Mx. (Named for its resemblance to the genus Croton.) Flowers 8 , minute, in terminal and axillary spikes;

calyx 5-parted; corolla of 5 petals; stamens 5, distinct; calyx 5-parted; corolla none; stamens 5 rudimentary scales; stigmas 3, each bifid; ovary simple; capsule 1-cellcd, 1-seeded, indehiscent. - Herb slender, branching, silvery-scurfy, with small, alternate lvs. Upper fls. sterile.

C. linearis Mx. - Sandy swamps, N. J. to Fla., La. and Ill. (Lapham). Sts. as slender as the flax, at length repeatedly forked, 1 to 2f high, clothed with rusty-glands in shining scales, as well as the small (6 to 10" long), linear-oblong, acute lvs. Fr. oval, acute, muricate glandular. Jn. - Sept.