Peculiarities of the Inflorescence in the Euphorbiaceae

Abstract

1. The cyathia of Euphorbia and Pedilanthus represent different degrees of adaptation and fusion in a single type of compound lateral inflorescence. Such an inflorescence was probably intercalary in its origin. 2. A tendency toward the reduction of floral parts involving apetaly and asexuality appears in the Malvaceae and becomes dominant in the Sterculiaceae and the Euphorbiaceae. 3. The glands and processes on the epicarp of Codiaeum, Ptychopyxis, and Ricinus are apparently relics from the androecium that became intimately fused with the carpels. Glands of the same nature probably appear also in other families (Sabiaceae).