I860.] CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. 215 



pp. 89 and 90, intimates his belief that our Spindle-tree, E. 

 europaus, is the Euonymus of Theophrastus. Our excellent coun- 

 tryman gives a good description of this shrub, and an indiffe- 

 rent figure. 



Clusius, Hist. Plant. 57, gives a characteristic description and 

 figure of E. europc^us, and admits that though it is thought by 

 the greater portion of the learned to be the Euonymus of Theo- 

 phrastus {potiori doctorum parti) , yet some are of another opi- 

 nion. These believe that Ledum alpinum is the plant in ques- 

 tion. See Clus. p. 82. 



Euphorbia. Several species of Spurge are described by 

 Theophrastus under the generic name Tithymalus, by which this 

 genus vras known and was written about for many centuries. 

 Billerbeck enumerates among others the following British, or 

 reputed Britishj, species, viz. E. Characias, E. Paralias, E. Heli- 

 oscopia, E. Cyparissias, E. platyphyllos, E. Lathy ris, E. Peplis. 

 The first and second of these are attributed to Theophrastus ; 

 the others to Dioscorides and Pliny. Sprengel enters four as in- 

 cluded in the ' History of Plants ' by Theophrastus, two of which 

 are connected with our ' Flora,"" viz. E. Paralias and E. Peplis. 



Euphorbia orientalis of Sprengel is E. Characias of Billerbeck. 

 See Bil. 117, 120; Spr. 91 ; Stack. 75. 



E. Paralias was observed by Peter Bellonius in Crete. See 

 Bel. in Clus. i. 24. 



Fagus. For F, Castanea see Castanea, Chestnut. 

 Fagus. The Common Beech, F. sylvatica, is the o^va of 

 Theophrastus, Hist. iii. 7 and 10. In the fifth book and eighth 

 chapter there is a very good description of the wood of this tree, 

 which was used in those early times for bed-posts (ei? K\tvapca), 

 as it is still (Stack. 54). In the county Bucks, where this tree 

 abounds, especially in its southern parts, about Chesham, Wend- 

 over, Rickmansworth, etc., thousands of chairs and bed-posts are 

 manufactured and sent to London. Much cheap common furni- 

 ture is made of this wood. 



Fraxinus excelsior, according to Stackhouse, is jBov^eXia, 

 Theo., and F. Ornus is [xekia, Theo. Stack. Tab. Syst. 3. 



Fuel. About ten genera or species of seaweeds are entered 

 by Sprengel, 108, 109, and attributed to Theophrastus. These 

 are now called (see Hooker, Br. Fl. vol. ii.), Desmarestia acu- 

 leata, D. saccharina, Laminaria bulhosa, Gelidium cartilagineum, 



