EUPHORBIACEAE  

Trees; indumentum simple; monoecious or subdioecious. Leaves alternate, simple, entire or palmately lobed, lobed leaves with gland at sinus between lobes, petiolate; stipules minute and soon deciduous. Inflorescences terminal, thyrsiform, bisexual, protogynous, with a solitary, terminal female flower and several male flowers and cymules, or else inflorescences unisexual; bracts lanceolate, lower sometimes persistent, upper soon deciduous; flowers large. Male flowers: calyx valvate, 2- or 3-lobed; petals free, contorted; disc of 5 free, erect glands; stamens 2-verticellate, (8-)10-14, outer +/- free or fused for a third of their length, inner fused for over half their length; anthers introrse; pistillode 0. Female flowers: calyx, petals and disc as in male flowers; ovary 3(-5)-locular, with 1 ovule per locule; styles 3(-5), +/- free or united at base, bifid. Fruit large, tardily dehiscent from base; exocarp fibrous; endocarp woody or crustaceous, 3(-5)-locular. Seeds ovoid-trigonous, ecarunculate; testa thick, woody; albumen hard; embryo straight; cotyledons broad, flat. x = 11.

Herbs, twining; with stinging hairs; monoecious. Leaves alternate, petiolate, cordate, usually lobed. Inflorescence a raceme, terminal or leaf-opposed, with many male flowers above and 1 or 2 basal female flowers. Petals 0. Disc 0. Male flowers: calyx herbaceous, with 5 valvate lobes; stamens 2-5(-50) on hemispherical receptacle; filaments free; anthers linear, minutely apiculate; pistil 0. Female flowers: calyx 6-partite; segments pectinately lobulate on each side, setose; ovary 3-locular, with a single ovule in each locule, setose; styles 3, free or connate below, densely papillose. Fruit a 3-coccous capsule, with cocci 2-valved. Seeds globose, ecarunculate; albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat. x = 12 (aneuploids, high polyploidy).

Trees or shrubs; dioecious, rarely monoecious. Leaves alternate, sessile or subsessile, entire or crenate, gland-dotted, glabrous; stipules connate, caducous. Flowers in leaf-opposed, sessile or subsessile, cymose glomerules. Petals 0. Male flowers: sepals (4)5(-7), imbricate, often unequal, 3 outer ones concave and with blunt horn on back; disc shallowly basin-shaped, hairy; stamens 6-25(-60); filaments free; pistil 0. Female flowers: sepals similar to those of male; disc shallowly basin-shaped, sometimes bearing rudimentary staminodes, hairy; ovary (2)3(4)-locular, with 1 ovule in each locule, glabrous; styles (2)3(4), shortly bifid or lacerate. Fruit somewhat woody, globose, columella persistent, or 3-didymous, capsular or drupaceous, (2)3(4)-locular, or by abortion 1-locular. Seeds ovoid, with thin pulpy sarcostesta and crustaceous, smooth or foveolate-reticulate endotesta, ecarunculate; albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat.

Herbs, annual; monoecious. Leaves alternate. Inflorescence of small flowers in glomerules of cymules at end of branches or in axils of upper leaves; male flowers in dense fascicles above; female fewer, below. Petals 0. Disc 0. Male flowers: calyx membranous, splitting into 3 valvate lobes; stamens 3(2); filaments connate towards base; anther thecae somewhat separate and deeply grooved; pistil 0. Female flowers: calyx as in male; ovary 2-locular, with a single ovule in each locule; styles 2, short, undivided. Fruit a 2-lobed, smooth capsule; cocci bivalved. Seeds ovoid; testa crustaceous, sculptured.

Trees or shrubs, usually with milky latex; monoecious, rarely dioecious. Leaves alternate, entire or remotely toothed; stipules 0. Inflorescence a terminal, bisexual spike with many male flowers above and few basal female flowers, bracteate; bracts sometimes with 2 or 3 glands on either side at base. Petals 0. Disc 0. Male flowers: calyx 2- or 3(4)-lobed; stamens 2 or 3(4); filaments free; pistil absent. Female flowers long-pedicellate; calyx 2- or 3(4)-lobed; ovary (2)3(4)-locular, with 1 ovule in each locule; styles (2)3(4), free or slightly connate at base, sometimes spreading around ovary. Fruit a capsule, often woody, (2)3(4)-coccous, globose, often wrinkled; cocci bivalved or subindehiscent or bacciform; endocarp smooth or cornute, often coriaceous; endocarp woody or crustaceous, thick or thin; columella generally persistent. Seeds (1)2 or 3(4) per fruit, globose or ellipsoid, rarely carunculate; sarcotesta thin or fleshy; endotesta crustaceous; albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat. x = 11 (10) (high polyploidy, B-chromosomes).