122 EUMORBIACE.E 



poste for our lives to the next farm-house to drinke some milke, to quench 

 the extremitie of our heate, which then ceased." 



10. Portland Spurge (E. portldndka). — Umbels 5-cleft, then 2-cleft; 

 bracts triangular, heart-shaped ; leaves membranaceous, inversely egg-shaped, 

 or inversely egg-shaped and lanceolate ; generally blunt, and somewhat 

 spine-tipped ; glands of the involucre 4, crescent-shaped, with two long 

 points ; capsule rough at the angles ; seeds almost Avhite, and dotted ; 

 perennial. This rare species grows on the sandy sea-coasts in the south and 

 west of England, in Wales, the Isle of Man, about Dublin, a;id in the south 

 of Scotland. It received its name from Portland Island, where it has been 

 long abundant, and where Mr. Gosse found it growing, in such quantity, 

 that he says it is quite a characteristic of the place. The stem is scarcely a 

 foot high, the leaves are numerous, and spread out in dense rosettes on the 

 ground. The plant is smooth and glaucous, and the stems and leaves are 

 often much tinged Avith red. It is a much less stout and conspicuous species 

 than the last, but is one of the most caustic of the genus. It floAvers from 

 May to August. 



11. Petty Spurge {E. i^dphis). — Umbel 3-cleft, then forked ; bracts egg- 

 shaped ; leaves membranaceous, broadly egg-shaped, stalked, lower leaves 

 roundish ; glands of the involucre crescent-shaped, the horns very long ; 

 capsule smooth, with thickened rough keels ; seeds oval, dotted ; annual. 

 This Spurge is abundant in waste places and cultivated fields, and is, 

 throughout the kingdom, a common garden weed. It is three or four inches 

 high, of a very pale green, its three-rayed and forked umbel bearing 

 numerous pale-green flowers from July to October. It is much less acrid 

 than most of the Spurge family, and might be safely used medicinally. It is 

 often prescribed by phy&icians on the Continent, its powers existing in the 

 oil of its seeds. 



12. Dwarf Spurge {E. exigiia). — Umbel 3-cleft, then forked; bracts 

 lanceolate, acute, unequal below ; leaves linear, blunt, or spine-tipped ; glands 

 of the involucre roundish, with 2 horns ; capsules smooth, Avith slightly 

 thickened and tubercled angles ; seeds small, white, angular, wrinkled ; 

 annual. This species is common in corn-fields on a light soil in England ; 

 rare in Scotland, and only occurring locally in Ireland. It is distinguished 

 from the last by its more slender habit, and by its narrow glaucous leaves. 

 It is from three to six inches high, and branched from the base. 



13. Caper Spurge (E. Idthyvis). ■ — Umbel of 3 — 4 principal 2-cleft 

 branches ; bracts heart-shaped and taper-pointed ; leaves linear-oblong, 

 sessile, upper leaves heart-shaped at the base ; glands of the involucre 

 crescent- shaped, with blunt horns ; capsules smooth ; seeds rough ; biennial. 

 This plant is to be found in thickets and among underwood in many parts 

 of the country. In most of these places it may be regarded as rather 

 naturalized than indigenous ; but Mr. Babington says, that it is truly wild 

 in a few stony and rocky woods, where it appears for two or three years 

 after the bushes have been cut. It is often seen in gardens, and was 

 formerly much cultivated. It is easily distinguished fi'om our other species ; 

 it is taller than either of them, and looks like a small shrub, though truly 

 herbaceous, but it is two, three, or even four feet high, and branched. It has 



