80 HERBACEOUS PLANTS 



on the Walnut and Crataegus prunifolia * in 1864, and has" 

 extended its range to the Horse-chestnut, Lime, Cladrastis, 

 Crataegus oxyacantha, and to the Ostrya, and lately to the 

 Medlar. It propagated by rubbing a ripe berry on a smooth 

 healthy bark surface, until the gelatinous matter about the so- 

 called seed makes it adhere. 



Ord. 158. SANTALACEAE. The Indian Sandal wood-tree, 

 Santalum album, is represented in England by the herb 

 Bastard Toadflax, Thesium linophyllum, found on the chalk. 



Ord. 1 60. EUPHORBIACEAE. The Spurges are characterised 

 by their poisonous milky juice, which is used by country folk 

 for destroying warts, and which may one day have an economic 

 future as the source of indiarubber, as it is in the Central 

 American Siphonia elastica, A bed in the south-east corner of 

 the plot is devoted to Castor-oil-plants, Ricinus communis. It 

 is stated that half a dozen of the green seeds when eaten will 

 act medicinally : they would certainly be easier to take than 

 the oil which is expressed from them. 



The exotic Euphorbias are of the most varied appear- 

 ance. Many of the leafless succulents may be seen in the 

 Cactus House ; while in the warm Stoves are the Poinsettia, 

 with its bright red leaf-like inflorescence, the fme-foliaged 

 Crotons, and the useful Manihot the source of cassava and 

 tapioca. 



Related to the Euphorbias is the shrubby tribe of 



BUXACEAE. Box hedges and edgings are used in several parts of the 

 Garden. The tree standing near the Danby Gate, outside the wall, 

 measures 2 ft. in girth, and is one of the largest in Oxford. 



* On this tree the Mistletoe made a clump 4 ft. in diameter, and a 

 thrush built its nest therein (Gardeners' Chronicle, 1864). In 1901 a list 

 of trees infected was indirectly supplied to the Gardeners' Chronicle by 

 Mr. Baker. The list included the above-mentioned trees (except the Medlar 

 and C. prunifolia'), and added Crat. odoratissima, Acer monspessulanum, 

 Aesculus hippocastaneum, Pyrus aria, Salix alba, and Fraximis ornus. 

 But on the four last, the growth was weak. Perhaps some of our scientific 

 botanists have had a hand in the dispersal. 



