- "- 



E U P 



plants produce flowers here. This grows naturally in 



India. 



The fourth fort puts out many ftalks juft above the 

 furface of the ground, which are thick, fucculent, 

 and roundiih, having eight or ten angles while they 

 are young, but as they grow old they lofc their angles 

 and become round-, the branches grow diftorted and 

 irregular, firft horizontal, and afterward turn upward; 

 they are armed with fmall crooked fpines on their 

 angles, and on the upper part of the branches come 

 out the flowers, which are fmall, ^nd of a greenifh 

 white, fliaped like thofe of the fecond fort. This grows 



naturally in India. 



The fifth fort grows naturally in India ; this rifes with 

 a {Irong upright ftalk five or fix feet high, which 

 hath irregular angles, ^nd protuberances which are 

 oblique to the angles ; the lower part of the ftalk is 

 naked, the upper part is branching, and the branches 

 are armed with crooked fpines ; at every protube- 

 rance, and at the top, they are garnilhed with oblong 

 leaves of a lucid green, which are very fmcoth, en- 

 tire, and rounded at their ends ; thefe fall off, and 

 the plants remain naked for fome months, and then 

 the flowers come out, which fit clofe to the branches, 

 and are of a greenilh white colour-, the leaves come 

 out in the autumn, and fall off in the fpring. 

 The fixth fort rifes with a roundiih, upright, fuccu- 

 lent ftalk about three feet high, putting out feveral 

 ' branches on the fide of the fame form ; thefc have 

 feven angles or furrows, which are armed with long, 

 fingle, black thorns; at the end of which come out 

 fmall flowers, of the fame form with thofe of the 

 other forts, and are fometimes fucceeded by fmall 

 fruit. . . ; . ; 



The feventh fort hath thick, roundifh, fucculent 

 ftalks, which are fcaly ; thefe fend out many branches 

 from their fides of the fame form, which are twifted, 

 and run one over another, fo as to appear like a par- 

 cel of ferpents coming out from the ftalk^s^ from 

 whence it had the appellation of Medufa's Head. 

 The ends of the branches are garniftied with narrow, 

 thick, fucculent leaves, which drop off', and round 

 the upper part of the branches the flowers come out ; 

 thefe are white, and of the fame form with thofe of 

 the other fpecies, but larger, and are frequently fuc- 

 ceeded by round fmooth capfules with xhree cells, 

 each including a fingle roundifli feed. - ■ 

 The eighth fort hath roundifli ftalks, which fwell out 

 like a belly in the middle, and have knobbed angles, 

 between which come out long fpines which are ftrait ; 

 thefe ftalks rife two feet high, and put out a few 

 branches on their fide of the fame form ; the flowers 

 art produced at the end of the branches, 

 clofe Open the angles ; they are fmall, of a yellowiih 

 green colour, and Ihaped like thofe of the other 

 ipecies. 



The ninth fort hath ftalks and branches .very like 

 thofe of the fourth, but ifiuth flendefer ; the fpines 

 of this are fingle, and thofe of the other double i and 

 the ends ol the branches are clofely garniflied with 

 flowers on every angle, in which it differs from the 

 fourth fort. 



fitting 



- I'U: 



r^*' ^^ * h^ 





K'7 





^- ' K-:^'< **. - ^ 



*-''«* r'i 



The tenth fort hath a thick ftiort ftalk, which feldom 



rifes more than eight or ten inches high, from which 

 come out a great number of tiailinjg branches which 

 are flender, and grow about a foof in length -, thefe 

 intermix with each other like thofe of the feventh 



fort, but they are much fmaller, and do not grow 



, near fo long, but have the fame appearance, rrom 

 . ' whence it is called Little Medufa's Head: the" ends 

 -' of thefe branches are befet with narrow leaves, be- 

 tween which the flowers come' out, which are white, 

 . and fliaped like thofe of the other fpecies. ^ :^ >■ >j 



The eleventh fort rifes with a taper ftalk fix or feven 

 ' iiiches high, fending out from the top a few taper 

 branches, which fpread out on every fide j thefe are 

 not fcaly, like thofe of the laft fort, but taper, and 

 garniftied at their ends with feveral fmall narrow 

 leaves which drop off". This fort hath not yet flowered 

 here, having been but a ftiort time in England. - 



E U P 



The twelfth fort hath a fliort thick ftalk, whiclmever 

 rifes three inches high, fo that the branches fprcaj 

 on the furface of the ground •, xhdc fcldoni orow 

 more than fix inches long, and their fcales Iwcll iiuo 



v/hich are fqtuirc*, th 



a fort of protuberances v/iiicn are iqtuirc*, they h;uc 

 no leaves, and very rarely produce flowers in Enf>lanJ 

 but has been long an inhabitant in the gardens. 

 The thirteenth fort is very like the feventh, but the 

 ftalks never rife more than a foot or fifteen inches 

 high, fo that the branches fpread out near the o-round • 

 thefe are alfo much fliorter than thofe of the feventh' 

 but have the fame appearance, and are garniflied with 

 narrow leaves at their end, which fall off' as the 

 branches are extended in length ; this produces a great 

 number of fmall white flowers at the end of the 

 branches, which are fliaped like thofe of the other 

 fpecies, and are frequently lucceeded by round fmooth 

 capfules with three cells, including one or two 

 roundifli feeds which ripen here. 

 Thefe forts have been by moft of the modern beta- 

 nifts ranged under the title of Euphorbium, and have 

 been diftinguiflied from the Tithymali, more from 

 the ftrudiure and outward appearance of the plants 

 than any real difference in their chara6ters, as hath 

 been before obferved i but as the number of fpecies 

 of thofe commonly called Spurge was very great, fo 

 many of the writers were willing to feparate the Eu- 

 phorbia from that genus, to leiTen the number of 

 fpecies. 



Thefe plants are preferved in many curious gardens, 

 more for the oddnefs of their ftruclurc, than any 

 'real beauty ; but being fo extremely different in their 

 form, from almoft any plants of European produdion, 

 many curious perfons have been induced toprcferve 

 the feveral forts in their gardens. 



They are all of them full of a milky acrid juice, whkh 

 flows out on their being wounded in any part j this 

 juice will bfifter the flefh, if it happen to lie upoa 

 . any tender part for a ftiort time, and will burn li- 

 nen almoft as bad as aqua fortis, therefore the plants 

 ftiould be handled with great caution ; nor fliould the 

 ends of their branches be ever bruifed or injured ; for 

 if they are, it frequently occafiohs their rotting down 

 to the next joint, and fometimes will deftroy the whole 

 plant, if thofe injured branches are not cut oflT in time; 

 ib that whenever the branches appear to have been in- 

 jured, the fooner they are cut from the plants, 'the 

 defs danger there will be of their fuffering from it; nor 

 fliould any of .the branches be cut between the joints, 

 for the fame reafon. . - /'' • 



- 



Moft of thefe plants were firft brought to Europe by 

 the Dutch, who have been very curious to introduce 

 great numbers of plants from India, and alfo from 

 the Cape of Good Hope : from the latter there hath 

 been a very great variety of curious plants of late 

 years brought to Europe, many of which produce 

 very elegant flowers, and are the greateft ornaments of 

 the confervatory in the winter and Ipring fcafons. 

 Thefe have been brought over in feeds, but the dif- 

 ferent kinds of Euphorbia came over moft of them 

 in plants or cuttings ; for thefe may be eafily tranf- 

 ported to any diftance, if either of them are put up 

 in boxes, with any foft dry package, to prevent their 

 being bruifed, or their fpines from wounding each 

 other, and kept from moifture and cold ; with this 

 care they may be kept fix months out of the ground, 

 and if carefully planted will take root," and thrive as 

 well as if they had been newly taken from the old 

 plants, or out of the ground but a ftiort time ; which 

 is a much more expeditious method of obtaining the 

 plants than from feeds, when they can be procured. 

 The greateft part of thefe fucculent plants grow na- 

 turally up9n barren rocky places, or in dry fandy 

 foils, where few other plants will thrive ; therefore 

 they ftiould never be planted in rich or loamy earth 

 here, nor fuff^ered to receive much wet, which will 

 caufe them to rot. The beft mixture of earth for 

 thefe plants is about a fourth part of fcreeried^ linne- 

 rubbifti, a fourth part of fea-fand, and half of lig'^J 



frefli earth from a common ; thefe ftiould be mixed 



well 



