64 MONOECIA— MONANDRIA. Euphorbia. 



trary, Linnaeus declares it to be corrosive and ulcerating, like 

 Cantharides ; and he further asserts in Fl. Suec. on the authority 

 of a Dr. Hagstrom^ that the plant, eaten by cattle, gives a dis- 

 agreeable smell to meat. Sheep that feed upon it are attacked 

 with diarrhcea. The stem is erect, a span high, or more, leafy, 

 generally branched at the bottom, and terminated by a large 

 green umbel, of 5 branches, each of w^hich divides into 3 others 

 which are forked ; the whole copiously furnished with obovate 

 serrated bracteas, of which the uppermost are rather heart- 

 shaped. Leaves obovate, finely serrated, tapering at the base, 

 or stalked. Nect. 4, roundish, entire, at first green, then turn- 

 ing yellow. Caps, smooth and even in every part. 



8. E. strict a. Upright Warty Spurge. 



Umbel of about five three-cleft, then forked, branches. 

 Leaves lanceolate, finely serrated. Nectaries four, 

 rounded, entire. Capsule warty. Seeds smooth. 



E. stricta. Linn. Sijst, Nat, ed. 10. u. 2. 1049. Fl. Grcec v. 5. 53. 



^.469. 

 E. platyphylla. Huds.209. Herb. D.Rose. Fl. Br. 517, a.Comp. 



ed. 4. 148. 

 Tithymalus platyphyllos. Rail Syn. 312 ; synonyms doubtful, 

 /3. Euphorbia stricta. Ejigl. Bot.v. 5. t. 333. 

 E. verrucosa. Huds. 209; not of Linn. 

 Tithymalus verrucosus. Raii Syn. 312 t not of Bauhin, nor of 



Dalechamp. 

 In cornfields, but rare. 

 a. Wild in Mr. Ray's orchard at Black Notley, Essex. Raii Syn. 



Near Northfleet, Kent. Hudson. 

 jS. In Essex, Mr. Dale : near York, Dr. Robinson. Ray. On the 



north side of Eversden wood, Cambridgeshire. Rev. Mr. Relhan, 



Gathered near Harefield, in 1793. 



Annual. July, August. 



Fev.' British plants are involved in more confusion than this. Our 

 first variety, only 12 or 18 inches high, has been confounded by 

 Linnaeus with his E. platyphylla, Jacq. Justr. t.376, which is 

 Haller's Tithymalus n. 1053, very abundant by road sides in 

 Switzerland. This, in every part but the flowers and fruit, is 

 so much larger than our's that they can hardly be supposed the 

 same. However this may be, our's is precisely the Linnsean 

 stricta, first described in the 10th edition of *Sv5^. Nat. v. 2. 1049, 

 though not in either edition of Sp. PI. Our /3 is the same 

 species in a starved condition. It is scarcely credible that Ray, 

 or anybody, should have taken this for the large creeping- 

 rooted Tithymalus verrucosus of J. Bauhin, v. 3. p. 2. 6/3, and 

 Dr. Robinson's plant, found near York, requires therefore to 



