_ DESCRIPTIO UBERIOR. 
Plats varia; rubra vel pallido-viridis. Radix perennis, elongata, tuberculata: extra colore flava, 
: interné albida. Caules numerosissimi dichotomi, geniculato-procumbentes, seu erectiusculi spi- 
thamei. Folia opposita, (uno alterove ex infimis alterno) ovalia interdum lanceolata, rarius lineari- 
lanceolata, levia, integerrima; nonnunquam emarginata. Pedunculi solitarii axillares, uniflori, 
longitudine foliorum dum florent, dein fructiferi duplo longiores. Calix crassus. Habitat in 
arenosis arvis, et sabulosis, florens Maio. Bart. Fl. Ph. MS. 
The genus Euphorbia, is the «44» of Dioscorides ; and it was 
so named after Euphorbus, physician to Juba, king of Lybia. 
. : . ws 
The very singular species which is now to be described, is ex- 
clusively a native of the United States, It is extremely amorphous; 
varying so much in the shape of its leaves, their colour, and in fact, 
in the whole appearance of the plant, that in its different states it 
might be mistaken by those unacquainted with it, for several distinct 
species of the same genus.* The root is perennial, from three to 
seven feet in length, and generally about three quarters of an inch, 
an inch, or an inch and an half in diameter. It is tuberculated, and. 
of a yellowish colour ; sending off towards its upper end, numerous 
* It is full of a milky juice, which by siccation between the fingers, is convert- 
ible into cauoutchouc. 
VOL. I. 28 ? 
