3b. Stem-leaves narrowly oblong or broader; stem generally 1-4 dm. high --4. 4a. Flowers in a short thick obtuse very dense spike (flowers greenish or purple; summer) =Milkwort, Polygala sanguinea.= 4b. Flowers in a slender tapering spike --5. 4c. Flowers in a raceme; plants with subterranean flowers also (flowers purple; early summer) =Milkwort, Polygala polygama.= 5a. Leaves linear or nearly so (flowers purple; summer) --7b. 5b. Leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 2-6 cm. long (flowers white; late spring) =Seneca Snakeroot, Polygala senega.= 5c. Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate (flowers white; late spring) =Seneca Snakeroot, Polygala senega var. latifolia.= 6a. Spike oval, thick, obtuse =Milkwort, Polygala cruciata.= 6b. Spike acute --7. 7a. Spike densely flowered, 1-2 cm. long =Milkwort, Polygala verticillata.= 7b. Spike loosely flowered, 2-5 cm. long =Milkwort, Polygala verticillata var. ambigua.= EUPHORBIACEAE, the Spurge Family Herbs, with alternate, opposite, or whorled leaves and usually milky juice. Flowers small or minute and inconspicuous, without petals and frequently without calyx. In our commoner species, several staminate flowers, each consisting of a single stamen only, and one pistillate flower, consisting of a single pedicelled 3-lobed ovary only, are included within a 4-5-lobed involucre, which is sometimes colored and resembles a calyx or corolla. 1a. Stem-leaves alternate; inflorescence axillary; flowers with calyx and several stamens (3-8 dm. tall; flowers greenish or purplish; summer) (Three-seeded Mercury) --2. 1b. Stem-leaves opposite, usually inequilateral at base; flowers as described for the family; apparent flowers in axillary clusters (summer and autumn) (Spurge) --3. 1c. Stem-leaves alternate; inflorescence a terminal umbel-like cluster, with its branches subtended by opposite or whorled leaves; flowers as described for the family (Spurge) --9. 2a. Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate; flower-clusters shorter than the subtending bract =Three-seeded Mercury, Acalypha virginica.= 2b. Leaves lanceolate to oblong; flower-clusters equaling or exceeding the subtending bract =Three-seeded Mercury, Acalypha gracilens.= 3a. Stem and foliage glabrous --4. 3b. Stem and foliage more or less pubescent (stems prostrate or ascending, 1-4 dm. long) --7. 4a. Erect or ascending, usually without basal branches (2-4 dm. tall) =Spurge, Euphorbia preslii.= 4b. Prostrate or spreading, branched from the base (stems 1-4 dm. long) --5. 5a. Leaves entire; plants of the shores of the Great Lakes =Spurge, Euphorbia polygonifolia.=