[Illustration: BULL NETTLE]
Flowers staminate and pistillate, often borne in an involucre; sepals
sometimes reduced or absent; petals usually absent; stamens 1 to 1,000;
styles free or united at base; fruit usually a 3-lobed capsule.
Bull Nettle (_Cnidoscolus texanus_), also called tread-softly,
spurge-nettle, and “mala mujer” (bad woman), is a vicious plant thickly
clothed with stinging hairs and bearing clusters of tubular white
flowers quite similar to the tuberose in appearance and fragrance. The
plants grow 2-3 ft. high. The upper flowers bear stamens, and the
flowers in the lower forks of the cluster produce seeds. The
seed-capsules resemble those of other members of the spurge family in
being nearly ball-shaped and deeply three-lobed. The seeds are large,
edible, and very palatable. The plants are very abundant in waste places
and sandy soil from Texas to Arkansas and Oklahoma, blooming from late
spring until fall.
Some familiar commercial products are obtained from members of the
spurge family; e.g., rubber, tapioca, and castor oil. In horticulture,
the cactus-like spurges and the Christmas poinsettia are well-known
favorites. The Chinese tallow-tree (_Sapium sebiferum_) is used as an
ornamental tree, its leaves being very decorative in the fall.
[Illustration: SNOW-ON-THE-MOUNTAIN]
Snow-on-the-Mountain. Ghost-Weed (_Euphorbia bicolor_) grows in great
abundance on the plains of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas,
being especially thick along dry creek margins. The plants are lovely in
late August and September, their showy appearance being due to the green
and white leaves surrounding the flower clusters. It bears rather
unusual flowers which yield a poisonous honey. The green calyx-like
structure is an involucre bearing numerous flowers, each consisting of a
single stamen or pistil. Around the top of the involucre are 4-5 small
glands each bearing a white appendage which is mistaken for the petals.
The cultivated snow-on-the-mountain (_Euphorbia marginata_) has broader
and shorter leaves. It is native on hillsides of Central Texas north to
Minnesota.
Texas Croton (_Croton texensis_) is a weed, 2-3 ft. high, growing in
conspicuous masses, particularly in the western part of the state. The
flowers are inconspicuous among the gray-green foliage, the widely
branched stems bearing numerous linear leaves. The fragrant leaves and
stems from some of the crotons are gathered and dried by the Mexicans to
use for tea or meat seasoning.