EUPHORBIACE SA. 33 
or five), given off from the lower joints of the stem, are hairy, jointed, and support at the joints small leafy, villous 
bracts, (tomentose when young; ) and several flowers, or short subpeduncles. The flowers are small, purplish and 
densely pubescent, especially at their base and on the germ. The hexangular, deeply sulcate capsule, which may be 
sometimes seen on the same general peduncle with the unexpanded flower, is sprinkled with scattered hairs, and bears 
at its apex the decayed corolla. (Bridges, in Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy.) 
The root as found in the shops is in appearance of a coarser character than the common kind. From a knotty 
caudex it sends off numerous long fibres, two or three times the thickness of those from the A. serpentaria, of a yel- 
lowish colour. Its smell is aromatic, its taste warm, aromatic and bitter. ; 
From the specimens of this plant collected by Mr. Nuttall, and labelled “ Red River,” the plant appears to be a 
Southwestern one. The root of late, in some quantity, has been brought into the market, and as it is unmixed, 
would appear to be the only one of the locality. It is probably the result of the collections made by the Creeks and 
Cherokees removed west of the Mississippi, who were accustomed to gather the serpentaria in Georgia. 
This root has been submitted to comparative examination by Mr. Wiegand, who found the two to possess the 
same composition. ‘The present plant differs from its congener solely in the larger amount of volatile oil and bitter 
extractive. In medical properties then, it is not only equal, but superior, to the preceding, and may be used for the 
same purposes. 
Prate LXXVII.—Represents the plant in flower. 
EUPHORBIACES. 
JUSSIEU. 
THE EUPHORBIUM TRIBE. 
Essentiat Cxar.—Flomers unisexual, moncecious or dicecious, sometimes disposed in clusters, or united in a 
common involucre, at other times more rarely, solitary. The calyz is often double, of from five to ten divisions, of 
which the most interior are petaloid and coloured. In the male flowers, the number of stamens is very variable. ‘The 
filaments, often articulated in the middle, are free, or united at base into a single or many-columns. Anthers two- 
celled, cells distinct, dehiscing longitudinally on the outer side. The female have a calyx similar to the male, and a 
sessile or pedicellate pistil. Ovary more or less globose, superior, sessile, or stipitate, two, three, or more celled, the 
sa a. around a central placenta. Ovules solitary, or in pairs; suspended from the inner angle beneath the 
a oa single or compound. Fruit a capsule containing two or three cells, bursting elastically. Seeds 
— with an arilla. Embryo surrounding a fleshy albumen. Cotyledons flat. Radicle superior. (Bot. 
ichard Elem.) 
ae The Euphorbiaces vary in their habit ; some are herbaceous, others ligneous ; their leaves are alternate, attenuate 
oa Sometimes thick and succulent. They contain a quantity of milky juice. 
is a ees ate — analogy in the active properties of this class, owing to the presence of an acrid principle, which 
Ne sicle 57 saa - all parts of the vegetable, and when concentrated capable of producing poisonous results, In 
« renders the tal of them is a fixed oil, which, varying in its association with more or less of the acrid principle, 
m moderately or strongly purgative. This acridity is evanescent. Caoutchouc is also a general ingredient. 
7 oo of all parts of the world, principally, however, to be found in warm latitudes. 
ak . | 
ee Glee. 
