636 



E UP 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



EUP 



the peduncles, forming' a sort of involucre. Jussieu doubts 

 whether each stamen being; jointed and accompanied with 

 chaffs, and breaking forth at different times, may not, as in 

 Box, be considered as so many one-stamined male flowers, 

 encircling one female flower in a common calix or involucre ; 

 if so, the flowers of Euphorbia should be regarded as com- 

 pound, and the plants as belonging to the class Monoecia. 



The species are, 



* Shrubby, prickly. 



1. Euphorbia Antiquorum ; Triangular Spurge. Almost 

 naked, triangular, jointed ; branches spreading. The stem is 

 triangular, compressed, succulent, rising to the height of eight 

 or ten feet, and sending out many irregular spreading twisting 

 branches, for the most part three-cornered, but having some 

 two and others four angles ; at their extremities are a few short 

 roundish leaves, which soon fall off, and near these come out 

 now and then a few flowers, which have five thick whitish 

 petals, with a large three-cornered germen in the centre ; they 

 soon drop off without producing seeds. It grows naturally in 

 the East Indies, whence the plants were brought to the gar- 

 dens in Holland, and thence communicated to most of the 

 curious gardens in Europe. This has generally been mis- 

 taken for the true Euphorbium, and consequently directed to 

 be used in medicine ; but it is from the second sort that the 

 drug now imported under that name in England is taken. 

 Linneus supposes the 7th (Officinarum) to be the sort which 

 should be used ; but as they are all nearly of the same qua- 

 lity, it may be indifferent from which this drug, which is the 

 inspissated juice of the plant, is taken. There is a variety 

 with a naked, three-cornered, compressed stalk, sending out 

 a great number of erect branches, which are also generally 

 three-cornered, but sometimes four-cornered ; they are armed 

 with short crooked spines, but have no leaves, nor have the 

 plants produced here. It is also a native of India. 



The plants included from the first to the twenty-fifth species, 

 and which form the two first divisions of this vast genus, are 

 in general known by the name of Euphorbium ; the others, 

 before Linneus appeared, were mostly known by the name of 

 Tithytnalus or Spurge. These plants are introduced into the 

 gardens of the curious, principally on account of the oddness 

 of their structure, which is entirely different from that of any 

 European production : they are all full of a milky acrid juice, 

 which will soon raise blisters, and flows out of the plant 

 when wounded in any part. This juice will burn linen almost 

 as much as aquafortis ; the plants ought therefore to be 

 handled with great caution, nor should the ends of their 

 branches be ever bruised or injured, for if they be, it fre- 

 quently causes them to rot down to the next joint, and will 

 sometimes destroy the whole plant, if those injured branches 

 be not cut off in time : so that whenever the branches appear 

 to have been injured, the sooner they are cut off from the 

 plants, the less danger there will be of their suffering from 

 it : nor should any of the branches be cut between the joints, 

 for the same reason. The Dutch imported most of the plants 

 into Europe : that people, it must be confessed, have been 

 very curious to introduce great numbers of plants from India, 

 and also from the Cape of Good Hope; from the last- 

 mentioned place a great variety of curious plants have been 

 recently brought, many of which produce very elegant flowers, 

 and aru the greatest ornaments of the conservatory in the 

 winter and spring seasons. These have been brought over 

 in seeds ; but most of the different sorts of Euphorbia came 

 over in plants or cuttings ; which may be easily transported 

 to any distance, if either of them be secured in boxes, with 

 any soft dry package, to prevent their being bruised, or their 

 spines from wounding each other, and defended from mois- 



ture and cold, for they will live thus six months out of the 

 ground, and if carefully replanted take new root, and thrive 

 as well as if they had been just cut off from the old plants, or 

 taken out of the ground, which is a much more expeditious 

 method of obtaining the plants than from seeds, when they 

 can be procured. The greatest part of these succulent 

 plants grow naturally upon barren rocky places, or in dry 

 sandy soils, where few other plants will thrive ; therefore 

 they should never be planted in rich or loamy earth in our 

 climate, nor suffered to receive much wet, which will soon rot 

 them. The best mixture of earth for these plants is, about 

 a fourth part of screened lime-rubbish, a fourth part of sea- 

 sand, and half of light fresh earth from a common ; these 

 should be mixed well together, and frequently turned over 

 before the mixture is used, that the parts may be incorpo- 

 rated, and the compost sweetened by being exposed to the 

 air. If this mixture be prepared a whole year before it is 

 wanted, it will be the better, that it may have the benefit of 

 the winter's frost and the summer's heat to mellow it ; and 

 the oftener it is turned over, and the smaller the heaps are 

 in which it is laid, the air will penetrate it better, and render 

 it more fit for use. These plants are easily propagated by 

 cuttings, which should be taken from fhe old plants in June; 

 they must be cut off at a joint, otherwise they will rot. 

 When the cuttings are taken off, it will cause the milky juice 

 of the old plants to flow out in plenty, therefore there should 

 be some dry earth or sand applied to the wounded part, 

 which will harden and stop the sap ; and the wounded part 

 of the cuttings should also be rubbed in sand, or dry earth 

 applied upon the wounded part, for the same purpose : the 

 cuttings should then be laid in a dry part of the stove for ten 

 days or a fortnight; and some of those whose branches are 

 large and very succulent, may lie three weeks or more before 

 they are planted, that their wounds may be healed and hard- 

 ened, to avoid rotting. The cuttings should be each planted 

 in small halfpenny pots, laying stones or rubbish at the bot- 

 tom, and filling them with the mixture before directed ; then 

 plunge the pots into a moderate hot-bed, and, if the weather 

 be very hot, the glasses of the hot-bed should be shaded in 

 the middle of the day, and the cuttings gently watered once 

 or twice week, according as the earth may dry; in about 

 six weeks or two months the cuttings will have put out roots, 

 so, if the bed is not very warm, the plants may continue there, 

 provided they have free air admitted to them every day; 

 otherwise it will be better to remove them into the" stove, 

 where they may be hardened before the winter, for if they 

 are too much drawn in summer, they are very apt to decay 

 in winter, unless very carefully managed. During summer 

 these plants require gentle waterings two or three times a 

 week, according to the warmth of the season ; but in winter 

 they must be sparingly watered, and only once a week, espe- 

 cially if the stove is not warm. The first species will require 

 more warmth in the winter than any of the others, and also 

 less water, and, if well managed, will grow seven or eight 

 feet high ; but the plants must constantly remain in the stove, 

 receiving a large share of air in warm weather, and in winter 

 a temperate degree of warmth. The annual sorts should 

 have their seeds sown in the autumn ; tlicy will come up in 

 the spring, and require no farther culture. The perennial 

 sorts may be propagated either by sowing the seeds, or part- 

 ing the roots, or by cuttings. They are most of them hardy 

 enough to endure the greatest cold of this country, especially 

 if they be planted in a dry soil. 



2. Euphorbia Canariensis; Canary Spurge. Naked, sub- 

 quadrangular; prickles in pairs. In its native country, the 

 Canary Islands, this grows to the height of twenty feet or 



