276 



EUPHORBIACE^. 



[Diclinous Exogens. 



fruit, moreover, which generally splits with elasticity, becomes a dnipe in Sarcococca 

 and others. Finally, in a few rare instances the albumen is said to be missmg. 



This extensive Order, which probably does not contain fewer 

 than 2500 species, either described or undesci'ibed, exists m the 

 greatest abundance in equinoctial America, where about 3-8ths 

 of the whole number have been found ; sometimes in the form 

 of large trees, frequently of bushes, still more usually of diminu- 

 tive weeds, and occasionally of deformed,leafless succulent plants, 

 resembling Indian Figs in aspect, but differing from them in 

 every other particular. In the Western world they gradually 

 diminish as they recede from the equator, so that not above 50 

 species are known in North America, of which a very small 

 number reaches as far as Canada. In the Old World the 

 known tropical proportion is much smaller, arising probably 

 from the species of India and equinoctial Africa not having 

 been described with the same care as those of America ; not 

 above an eighth having been found in tropical Africa, including 

 the islands ; a sixth is perhaps about the proportion in India. 

 A good many species inhabit the Cape, where, and in the North 

 of Africa, they often assume a succulent hai3it ; and there are 

 almost 120 species from Europe, including the basin of the 

 Mediterranean : of which 1 6 only are found in Great Britain, 

 and 7 in Sweden. 



Fig. CXCI. 



Fig. CXCII. 



A very large proportion of these plants is venomous. The poisonous principle re- 

 sides chiefly in their milky secretion, and is most powerful in proportion as that secre- 

 tion is abundant. The hairs of some species are stinging. The bark of vai'ious species 

 of Croton is aromatic, as Cascarilla ; and the flowers of some, such as Caturus spicifloms, 

 give a tone to the stomach. Many of them act upon the kidneys, as several species of 

 Phyllanthus, the leaves of Mercui'ialis annua, and the root of Ricinus communis. Seve- 

 ral are asserted by authors to be useful in cases of dropsy ; some Phyllanthuses are 

 emmenagogue. The bark of several Crotons, the wood of Croton Tiglium and common 

 Box, the leaves of the latter, of Cicca disticha, and of several Euphorbias, are sudorific, 

 and used against syphihs : the root of various Euphorbias, the juice of Commia, Anda, 

 Mercuriahs perennis, and others, are emetic ; the leaves of Box and MercuriaUs, the 

 juice of Euphorbia, Commia, and Hura, the seeds of Ricmus, Croton Tighum, &c. &c., 

 are purgative. Many are dangerous, even in small doses, and so fatal in some cases, 

 that no practitioner would dare to prescribe them ; as, for example, Manchineel. In 

 fact, there is a gradual and insensible transition, in this Order, from mere stimulants to 

 the most dangerous poisons. The latter have usually an acrid character, but some of 

 them are also narcotic, as those Phyllanths the leaves of which are thrown mto water 

 to intoxicate fish. Whatever the stimulating principle of Spurgeworts may be, it 

 seems to be volatile, because application of heat is sufficient to dissipate it. Thus the 



Fig. CXCI.— Eremocarpus setigerus —Bentham. 1. a young pistil ; 2. a ripe fruit after dehiscing. 

 Fig. CXCII.— Monotaxistridentata. 1. a ? flower surrounded by several Ss; 2. a (? apart; 3. a 

 stamen ; 4. a sspal ; 5. a ? apart ; 6. a transverse section of the oxaTx.—Endlicher. 



