633 



EUPHOltBIACE^E. 



EUPHRASIA. 



63 1 



E. ojifinantm, E. anliquorum, and . Canariemis. The same proper- 

 ties exist in the herbaceous leafy species, diffused in some, concen- 

 trated in others. 



Euphorbia 



E. Lathyrit, a common weed in cottage gardens, where it is called 

 Caper, yields from its seeds an oil of the most violent purgative 

 nature. If it were less dangerous it might be substituted for Tiglium 

 oil. Fe'e states that with as much of this oil as could be sold for a 

 franc ninety adults might be purged. 



E. Tirucatti has erect naked round branches, which are succulent, 

 polished, and abounding in milky juice. The leaves are small, linear, 

 fleshy, sessile, and at the ends of the twigs. The flowers are crowded, 

 nib-sessile, terminal, and axillary ; the lobes of the involucre are five 

 in number, roundish, smooth, and peltate ; the tube woolly on the 

 inside. The capsule is villous. The milk when introduced into the 

 eye produces severe inflammation and even blindness. It is used 

 medicinally in India. 



/,'. triljtiluiile* has a stem about two inches high and one inch 

 broad, ovate, fleshy, quadrangular, having two opposite, stalked, ovate 

 spathulate leaves growing from its base. The prickles are in pairs, 

 white, clustered on the margin of the angles. It is said to be a 

 sudorific. 



E. anliquorum is common on barren and uncultivated lands all 

 over India and Arabia Felix. It has a shrubby leafless succulent 

 stem. The branches are spreading, triangular or quadrangular, the 

 angles sinuated, and armed with double spines at the protuberances. 

 The peduncles are solitary or in pairs, 3-flowered. There are only 

 5 stamens. The bark of the root when bruised in water is taken aa 

 a purgative. Some writers consider that this plant yields the drug 

 Knii/infliiiiiH, a resinous substance possessing acrid irritant properties. 

 In all probability however this substance is chiefly obtained from 

 E. officinarum. The Arabs make up violent diuretic pills by rubbing 

 over the juice of E. an/iriuorum with flour, yet their camels will eat 

 the branches when cooked. The juice of E. heptagma, E. virosd, and E. 

 eerriformi*, African species, furnishes the Ethiopians, and E. cotinifolia, 

 the wild Brazilian, with a mortal poison for their arrows. The juice 

 of the leaves of E. nereifolia is prescribed by the native practitioners 

 of India internally as a purge and deobstruent, and externally, mixed 

 with Margosa oil, in such cases of contracted limb as are induced by 

 rheumatic affections. The leaves have no doubt a diuretic quality. 

 Of the leafy Euphorbias great numbers are found to possess a milk 

 with purgative or emetic qualities. The roots of some of the species 

 are emetic. 



According to Deslongchamps the powdered root of E. Gerardiana is 

 emetic in doses of 18 or 20 grains. The root of E. Ipecacuanha is 

 said by Barton to be equal to the true Ipecacuanha in some respects 

 superior. K. PUhyuiU. is esteemed in the Mediterranean. K. thymifolia 

 is somewhat aromatic and astringent, and is prescribed in India in 

 the diarrhoea of children, and as a vermifuge. In the same way is 

 erfployed E. hypericifolia, a plant of tropical America, which is 

 astringent and somewhat narcotic. Nevertheless, E. bahamifera has 

 no such qualities, and is eaten when cooked. E, Mauritanica is also 

 employed as a condiment ; but its acridity is unpleasant. It is said to 

 be used in adulterating scammony. The sap of E. p/totphorea shines 

 with a phosphorescent light in a warm night in the ancient forests of 

 Brazil. (Lindley, Vtyetalile Kingdom.) 



Kri'Uoltl'.I.U'E^E, Spuryeiaorts, a natural order of Exogenous 

 Plant* with definite suspended anatropal ovules, scattered flowers, and 

 tricoccous fruit. The genera consist of trees, shrubs, or herbaceous 

 plants, often abounding in acrid milk. The leaves are mostly opposite 

 or alternate, simple, rarely compound, often with stipules. The flowers 

 are axillary or terminal, arranged in various ways, sometimes inclosed 

 within an involucre resembling a calyx ; flowers monoecious and diceci- 

 OIM. The calyx inferior, with various glandular or scaly internal 



appendages (sometimes wanting). Corolla either consisting of petals 

 or scales, equal in number to the sepals, or absent, or sometimes more 

 numerous than the sepals ; sometimes monopetalous. The stamens 

 definite or indefinite, distinct, or mouadelphous ; anthers 2-celled, 

 sometimes opening by pores. Ovary free, sessile, or stalked, 1-2-3- 

 or more celled ; ovules solitary or twin, suspended from the inner 

 angle of the cell ; styles equal in number to the cells, sometimes 

 distinct, sometimes combined. Fruit generally tricoccous, consisting 

 of three carpels splitting and separating with elasticity from their 

 common axis, occasionally fleshy and indehiscent. 



Andrachne tclephioiiles. 



1, a male flower j 2, a female flower ; 3, an ovary nearly ripe ; 4, a section 

 of a ripe fruit. 



This extensive order, which probably does not contain fewer than 

 2800 species, described or uudescribed, exists in the greatest abund- 

 ance in equinoctial America, where about three-eighths of the whole 

 number have been found, sometimes as large trees, frequently as 

 deformed bushes, still more usually as diminutive weeds, and occa- 

 sionally as leafless succulent plants resembling Indian figs in aspect, but 

 not in any other particular. In the Western World they gradually 

 diminish as they recede from the equator, so that not above 50 species 

 are known in North America, of which a very small number reaches as 

 far as Canada. In the Old World the known tropical proportion is much 

 smaller, arising probably from the species of India and equinoctial 

 Africa not having been described with the same care as those of 

 America, not above an eighth having been found in tropical Africa, 

 including the islands ; a sixth is about the proportion in India. A 

 good many species inhabit the Cape, where, and in the north of Africa, 

 they often assume a succulent habit ; and there are about 120 species 

 from Europe, including the basin of the Mediterranean, of which 

 16 are found in Great Britain, and 7 in Sweden. A large number of 

 these plants are poisonous. The poisonous principle resides chiefly 

 in their milky secretion. The hairs of some are stinging. The bark 

 of many is aromatic ; and the flowers of some tonic. Many are used 

 in medicine, such as Crolon, Cascarilla, and Euphorbia. The stimu- 

 lating poisonous principle however appears to be volatile, since the 

 action of heat is sufficient to dispel it. Thus the starchy root of the 

 Manihot, or Cassava, which when raw is a violent poison, becomes a 

 wholesome nutritious food when roasted. Some yield a fixed oil from 

 their seeds, as the species of Elceococca. For further particulars respect- 

 ing the important and various properties of the species of this order, 

 see PEDILANTHUS, CROTON, Buxus, CASCAHILLA, JATROPHA, EICINUS, 

 and EUPHORBIA. The order contains 191 genera, and 2800 species. 



EUPHOTIDE, a Compound Rock, consisting of Diallage and 

 Felspar. It is sometimes called Diallage Eock. 



EUPHRA'SIA (from tCi<t>pa.aia, delight), a genus of Plants belonging 

 to the natural order ScroplMlariaceie or Scrophularinea:. It has a 

 campanulate 4-cleft calyx ; the upper lip of the corolla galeate, ernar- 

 ginate, the lower larger, spreading, with the middle lobe emarginate ; 

 4 stamens, fertile, the lower cells of the upper anthers with a long 

 spur ; the capsules oblong-ovate, compressed, emarginate, with entire 

 valves ; the seeds few. 



E. afficinalis, Euphrasy, Eyebright, has ovate or cordate-ovate 

 nearly sessile serrate leaves, the corolla glabrous, the lobes of the 

 lower lip emarginate, of the upper lip patent sinuate-dentate, the 

 anthers unequally mucronate, hairy. It is from one to four inches 

 high, and is a native of the heaths and pastures of Europe, the 

 Himalaya Mountains, Cashmere, and all the north of Asia. It is 

 common in Great Britain. This species is peculiarly subject to 

 variation. The leaves are ovate, or cordate-ovate, or cordate- 

 triangular, with the teeth acute or obtuse, ascending or spreading. 

 The capsule also varies much in shape. There is scarcely a character 

 permanent except the pubescence of the corolla. This elegant little 

 plant has a slightly bitter and aromatic flavour, and has been employed 



