IIO EUPHORBIA COROLLATA. FLOWERING SPURGE. 



height. These plants have much the appearance of the cactuses 

 of our own continent, bearing spines on the angles of the stems, 

 as our cactuses do, but differing from them in having a milky 

 juice which runs freely on the slightest puncture. In these his- 

 tories of botanical names, such as the one just related, we must 

 accept the accounts as they are handed down to us, without 

 much questioning. Otherwise, if we were to examine them 

 critically, we might frequently be led to reject them altogether. 

 In the present case, for instance, it might be said that such very 

 common and peculiarly striking plants must certainly have had 

 some recognized name long before King Juba deigned to take 

 notice of one of them. Even our wild Indians give common 

 names to striking plants, and as the literal meaning of Euphorbia 

 is " well fed," it might be argued that it is a designation very 

 likely to occur to any one in connection with such fat-looking, 

 milk-gorged vegetation, without necessitating the intervention of 

 a royal intellect. 



The common name of the family is " Spurge," and seems to 

 come from the French " Espurge." It is the same in effect as 

 our word purge, which expresses the peculiar virtues said to have 

 been discovered by King Juba. All the members of the genus 

 Euphorbia possess more or less of this purging character, and a 

 plant of the same natural order, Ricinus communis, is indeed the 

 veritable castor-oil plant. Aside from this purging character, 

 the Euphorbias, all of which are poisonous, seem to have no 

 qualities useful to mankind. Our own famous botanist, Nuttall, 

 appears to have had quite a dislike to them, for he speaks of 

 them in a manner unusual in one who always showed so great a 

 devotion to nature in every form. He says: " The economy of 

 the genus Euphorbia appears to be very limited. In the deserts 

 of Africa they only tend, as it were, to augment the surrounding 

 scenes of desolation ; leafless, bitter, thorny, and poisonous, they 

 i to deny food to every animated being. Among the Euro- 

 pean and American species, there are some which have been 

 used medicinally, but they are, at best, dangerous and needless 



