EUPHORBIA 



NBRIIPOLIA INDIAN SPURGEWORTS 



Mansa sij 



Reunion are richer in oil, but command, as a spice, too high, a price to be 

 used in distillation. The most expensive clove is that of St. Marie in 

 Madagascar. Clove-oil is largely employed in perfumery. Its value is 

 estimated by its eugenol content, which varies from 76 to 85 per cent. 

 Trade. Trade. Zanzibar and Pemba yield four-fifths of the total clove- 



Exports, supply of the world. There is a small EXPORT of Indian-grown cloves 



from Madras, a circumstance that points to a certain amount of cultiva- 

 tion. The traffic is, moreover, an expanding one. In 1899-1900 these 

 exports stood at 148 Ib. ; in 1901-2 at 3,329 Ib. ; in 1903-4 at 12,598 Ib. ; 

 in 1904-5 at 25,537 Ib. ; in 1905-6 at 11,825 Ib. ; and in 1906-7 at 5,173 Ib. 

 imports. As compared with these records, the IMPORTS were 7,815,486 Ib., valued 



at Rs. 17,63,050, in 1899-1900; 6,983,582 Ib., valued at Rs. 15,33,174, in 

 1901-2; 6,659,913 Ib., valued at Rs. 17,03,296, in 1903-4 ; 8,345,521 Ib., 

 valued at Rs. 22,01 ,424, in 1905-6 ; and 5,062,782 Ib., valued at Rs. 16,28,355, 

 in 1906-7. Practically the whole comes from British East Africa, and 

 is received by the town of Bombay. There is an increasing trade 

 from Germany (? Colonies), which supplied 1,100,068 Ib. in 1905-6 

 and 798,851 Ib. in 1906-7. The traffic with the Straits Settlements and 

 China is insignificant under 100,000 Ib. from each taken by India. 

 From the imports, however, are drawn the re-exports, viz. 1,000,000 Ib., 

 the major portion going to the Straits Settlements and China (Hongkong). 

 India is thus once more a large emporium for the cheaper grades of 

 clove, but in the opposite direction to its ancient traffic. 



D.E.P., EUPHORBIA, Linn. ; Fl. Br. Ind., v., 244-66 ; Gamble, Man. Ind. 



iii., 294- Timbs., 590-1 ; Brandis, Ind. Trees, 557-8 ; Prain, Beng. Plants, ii., 923-5. 

 EUPHORBIACE^E. This is a genus of herbaceous plants mostly, though a 

 few assume the condition of useful hedge bushes or even small trees. 

 There are in India some 53 species ; 7 or 8 only are of economic value. 



The English generic name Spurgewort denotes their chief medicinal property, 

 but their greatest potentiality lies in the utilisation of their milky sap as a source 

 of gutta-percha. It will be seen from the brief specific review that follows that 

 this subject has engaged spasmodic attention in India for the past century or 

 more without any practical results having been obtained. Hooper (Rept. Labor. 

 Ind. Mus. (Indust. Sec.), 1905-6, 28-9) gives the results of his examination of the 

 latex of two species. They yielded large quantities of euphorbium and resin to 

 boiling alcohol. Many of the species are valued as manures in the reclamation 

 of waste lands. 



E. antiquorum, Linn. A small tree of the dry regions of India generally. 

 Is often used as a hedge plant, and best known by the following names : vajri 

 in Sanskrit, and in the vernaculars nara sij or narsej, tekdtd sij, tidhdra, sh-idu, 

 kalli, bonta kalli, tazaung, pyathat, etc. Fryer (New Ace. E. Ind. and Pers., 



Hedge Plants. 1672-81, 105) alludes to the Euphorbia hedges of the Deccan, which doubtless to 

 some extent consisted of this species. In some parts of Eastern Bengal and 

 Assam this tree is almost sacred, and is supposed to protect the gardens around 

 which planted, and like E. nerlifoiin, Linn., has the merit, so it is thought, of 

 safeguarding the inhabitants against snake-bite. Both are, in fact, sacred to 

 Mansa, the goddess of serpents. 



E. neriifolia, Linn A small tree wild on rocky situations in the Deccan, 

 West Coast and Orissa, but often seen under cultivation, especially in Bengal. 

 It is the mansd sij, pdta-sij, sehund, thor, nivarung, mingut, kalli, yellikalli, 

 shazaung. It has a more or less cylindrical stem (the allied form -E. Hguiaria, 

 Roxb., being four- or five-angled) with stipular thorns on numerous tubercles. 



Medicine. The MILKY JUICE of this as also the foregoing species is used medicinally all 



over India ; it is purgative and rubefacient. Is a popular application to warts 

 and other cutaneous affections. Internally the juice is usually administered 

 along with other purgatives and aromatics. In the Indian Forester (1891, xvii., 

 350) Gleadow tells the results of some experiments he performed to extract the 



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