SPURGE TRIBE *55 



unpleasant flavour, are eaten in Arctic regions, and are considered 

 as a preventive of scurvy. 



r. Empetrum (Crow-berry). Perianth of 3 outer and 3 inner 

 scales. (Name in Greek signifying growing on a rock.) 



1. Empetrum (Crow-berry) 



1. E. nigrum (Black Crow-berry, Crake-berry). The only British 

 species. A small, prostrate shrub, with the habit of a Heath. 

 The stems are much branched ; the leaves are oblong, very narrow, 

 and have their margins so much recurved as to meet at the back ; 

 the flowers are small and purplish, growing in the axils of the upper 

 leaves. The berries, which are black, are much eaten by moor-fowl. 

 Abundant on mountainous heaths in the north. Fl. May. Per- 

 ennial. 



Natural Order LXXIII 

 EUPHORBIACEiE. Spurge Tribe 



Stamens and pistils in separate flowers ; perianth lobed, with 

 various scales or petal-like appendages ; stamens varying in number 

 and arrangement ; ovary mostly 3-celled, with as many styles and 

 stigmas ; fruit generally 3-celled and 3-seeded. A large Order, 

 very difficult to be defined, even by the experienced botanist, and, 

 therefore, very likely to puzzle the beginner, who must not be dis- 

 heartened if he is a long while in reducing to their place in the 

 system those plants belonging to it which he first meets with. 

 The Order contains nearly 200 genera, and it is necessary to ex- 

 amine many of these before the relation can be traced between 

 those families which most differ. The number of species is thought 

 to be not less than 2500, which are distributed over most of the 

 tropical and temperate regions of the globe, especially the warmer 

 parts of America. They are either trees, shrubs, or herbs, and 

 some kinds have the external habit of the cactus tribe. Among so 

 numerous an assemblage of plants we should expect to find a great 

 dissimilarity of properties, which, indeed, exists to a certain extent, 

 yet nearly all agree in being furnished with a juice, often milky, 

 which is highly acrid, narcotic, or corrosive, the intensity of the 

 poisonous property being usually proportionate to the abundance 

 of the juice. Of the genus Euphorbia, Spurge, which gives its 

 name to the Order, ten or twelve species are natives of Britain. 

 The British Spurges are all herbaceous, and remarkable for the 

 singular structure, of their green flowers and their acrid milky 

 juice, which exudes plentifully when either the stems or leaves are 

 wounded. The roots of several of the common kinds enter into 

 the composition of some of the quack fever medicines, but they 

 are too violent in their action to be used with safety. The Irish 



