120 EUPHORBIACE^ 



two, we see minute white drops oozing from each part ; though it is remark- 

 able that if the leaf be altogether severed from the stalk, and then broken, 

 this milk is not perceptible. The species all possess more or less of the 

 milky juice, which contains caoutchouc, and which will i-edden the skin, or 

 even blister it if delicate. The old Greeks tell how this acrid sap was 

 dropped into the eye to remove spots on the cornea. It has powerful 

 medicinal properties, and is used by country people as a caustic for the bite 

 of a viper, and sometimes rubbed on the skin behind the ear as a cure for 

 toothache. Sheep are said by Linnaeus to eat the plant, and to be injured 

 by it, while it also imparts an unpleasant flavour to their flesh. The ancients 

 commonly used the thick milky juices of plants for making sympathetic ink, 

 and letters were written with milk of this kind, and strewed over with black 

 powder ; but any other glutinous substance would have served the purpose 

 as well. The French term the plant L'Euphorhe ; and it is called by a 

 synonymous word in all the Continental countries. 



3. Broad-leaved Warted Spurge {E. platyphylla). — Umbel of about 

 five principal 3-cleft and 2-cleft branches ; bracts heart-shaped ; leaves mem- 

 branaceous, broadly inversely egg-shaped, lanceolate, acute, finely serrated ; 

 glands of the involucre oval, yellow ; capsule warted ; seeds olive-brown and 

 smooth ; annual. This plant is rare, but may be found in corn-fields and 

 waste places south of Gloucester and Yorks. It might lie at first mistaken 

 for a stunted specimen of the Sun Spurge, but it has, in many instances, the 

 leaves slightly hairy beneath, and the capsules are rough, Avith minute 

 rounded tubercles at the back. Its green flowers appear from June to 

 October. A sub-species of this, agreeing with Eeichenbach's figure of 

 E. strida, and differing from the type by the leaves being narrowed above 

 the base, instead of narrowed gradually to the base, occurs between Tintern 

 and the Wynd-clifi'. It further cliiTers from the typical form in the smaller 

 size of bracts and fruit, the latter being studded with conical Avarts. 



4. Irish Spurge {E. hiberna). — Umbel of about five principal branches ; 

 bracts and leaves egg-shaped or elliptical, entire; glands of the involucx'e 

 four in number, kidney-shaped, with intermediate rounded lobes ; capsule 

 Avarted, shining ; seeds pale broAvn, smooth ; perennial. This species, Avhich 

 is used by fish-poachers to poison salmon, is found in hedges and thickets in 

 the south and Avest of Ireland, and on a few spots in England, as about 

 Brendon, in North Devon, and betAveen Faversham and Sittingbourne, in 

 Kent. Its stem is from a foot to a foot and a half high, and the glands of 

 the involucre purple. The leaves are broad and slightly hairy beneath, and 

 it floAvei's in May and June. 



5. Marsh Sun Spurge (E. ■pulddris). — Umbel about 5-cleft, then 3-cleft, 

 and 2-cleft ; bracts all elliptical, shining, entire ; leaves broadly lanceolate, 

 minutely serrated, slightly hairy; glands of the involucre 4, transversely 

 oval ; capsules Avarted, hairy ; seeds inversely egg-shaped, minutely dotted, 

 smooth ; perennial. This is Mr. Babington's description of a plant sometimes 

 termed E. piUsa. It flowers in May and June, and its stem is from two to 

 four feet high, and leafy throughout. It occurs in shady places near Bath. 

 It is not considered indigenous. 



6. Coral-like Hairy Spurge {E. corallokles). — Umbel 5-cleft, then 



