EUPHORBIACEJE. 



MERCURIALIS. 



DicEcious, or occasionally monceccious. Calyx 3-parted. $ . 

 Stamens 9-12. ? . Ovarium double, with 2 opposite furrows 

 and 2 sterile filaments proceeding from either furrow. Styles 

 2, forked. Fruit dry, consisting of 2 cells bursting with elasti- 

 city, and containing each 1 seed. 



384. M. perennis Linn. sp. pi 1465. E. Bot. t. 1872. 

 S. and C. ii. t. 78. — Cynocrambe Ger. em. 333. f. — Common 

 in bushy places all over Europe. 



Root creeping. Herbage rough, fetid. Stems unbranched, square, 

 a foot high, leafy in the upper part. Leaves ovate, acute, serrated, 

 2 or 3 inches long, with small stipules. Flowers on axillary stalks, in 

 uninterrupted, erect spikes ; the barren ones most numerous. Sterile 

 filaments very narrow, rising above the styles. — Very poisonous, 

 though, as appears from the accounts of ancient writers, it may be 

 eaten boiled, as a pot-herb, if mixed with mucilaginous plants, and oily 

 substances. Instances are, however, recorded of the fatal consequences 

 of its use occasionally in this country. Smith. According to Sloane 

 it has sometimes produced violent vomiting, incessant diarrhoea, a 

 burning heat in the head, a deep and long stupor, convulsions, and 

 even death. 



385. M. annua Linn. sp. pi. 1465. E. Bot. t. 559 Com- 

 mon in waste ground in various parts of Europe. 



Root much branched; simple at the crown. Stem from 6 to 12 

 inches high, erect, bushy, smooth, of a bright shining green, disposed 

 to turn blueish after drying, like M. perennis. Branches numerous, 

 crossing each other. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, serrated. Flowers 

 green, the males in small tufts, ranged in interrupted spikes ; females 

 fewer, stalked, axillary, destitute of sterile filaments. — The qualities of 

 this are like those of M. perennis, though supposed to be rather less 

 virulent. Smith. 



TRAGIA. 



Rowers monoecious. $ . Calyx 3-parted. Stamens 2-3. 

 $ . Calyx 5-8-parted. Style 3-fid. Capsule 3-coccous. A. de J. 



386. T. involucrata Linn, sp.pl. 1391. Jacq. ic. rar. i. 1. 190. 

 Roxb.fl. ind. iii. 576. — (Burm. Zeyl. t. 92. Rheedeu. t. 39.) — 

 Shady places and hedges all over India. 



A perennial twiner. Branches covered closely with hair. Leaves 

 stalked, oblong, acuminate, serrate, 3-nerved, very hairy and rough ; 

 stipules cordate. Racemes stalked, erect, many-flowered, with 1 female 

 to. each. Hairs of all the parts stinging. — Roots according to the 

 Hindoo doctors useful in altering and correcting the habit in ca- 

 chexia and old venereal complaints attended with anomalous symptoms. 

 Ainslie. 



188 



