EUP 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



EUP 



539 



applied to the flesh ; and, says Mr. Miller, I have been credibly 

 informed, becomes a deadly poison, when mixed with the 

 blood, so that if the points of arrows, or the edges of swords, 

 be rubbed with this juice, it ensures the death of any animal 

 wounded by those weapons. For the propagation and cul- 

 ture of this species and its varieties, see the first species. 



2?. Euphorbia Heterophylla; Various-leaved Spurge. Leaves 

 serrate, petioled, difform, ovate, panduriform, or dicholomous 

 with a bifid umbel. This is an annual plant, from two to 

 three feet high. Some of the leaves are narrow, and entire, 

 others ovate, and divided in the middle almost to the mid- 

 rib, in the shape of a fiddle ; they also vary in colour, some 

 being inclinable to purple, others of a light green, and their 

 footstalks are short. The flowers are produced in smnll 

 umbels at the ends of the branches; they are of a greenish 

 white, and arc succeeded by small round capsules. It grows 

 naturally at La VeraCruz. For its propagation and culture, 

 see the first species. Morison speaks with admiration of the 

 heterogeneous leaves in this plant, a circumstance which is 

 since found not to be uncommon, particularly in plants from 

 the South Seas. He speaks of this species of Spurge as attain- 

 ing the height of a man, even in this country, with a trunk an 

 inch or more in thickness, spreading out into straight, long, 

 pliant branches, having some leaves three or four inches long, 

 and narrow, resembling those of the Narrow-leaved Willows ; 

 others on the same branch soft, like those of an Atriplex or 

 Orach, tending to a sea-green colour, sinuated, and from an 

 inch to two inches in breadth. Varieties are observed in this 

 plant; some having a reddish and somewhat wrinkled bark, 

 whilst in others it is green and smooth ; the leaves also being 

 subject to vary much. This being shrubby, and so large a 

 plant, cannot be the annual species first described ; and is in- 

 troduced here for the sole sake of the curious and intelligent 

 botanist. 



23. Euphorbia Cotinifolia ; Venice-Sumach-leaved Spurge. 

 Leaves opposite, subcordate, petioled, emarginate, quite en- 

 tire : stem shrubby ; upright, six or seven feet high, covered 

 with a light brown bark, and divided at top into many 

 branches; leaves smooth, and of a beautiful green, but fall- 

 ing away in winter; flowers from the ends of the branches, 

 yellow and smalt, soon falling away without fruit. Native of 

 the islands and contiaent of Scuth America. For its propa- 

 gation and culture, see the first species. 



24. Euphorbia Ocymoidea ; Basil-leaved Spurge. Herba- 

 ceous, branching: leaves subcordate, quite entire, shorter 

 than the petiole; flowers solitary. This is an annual plant, 

 rising with an upright stalk about a foot high, and dividing 

 into a great number of branches, which spread very wide on 

 every side; leaves roundish, heart-shaped, on pretty long 

 footstalks. The flowers come out singly from the divisions 

 of the stalk; they are small, of an herbaceous colour, and arc 

 succeeded by small round capsules. Native of South Ame- 

 rica. This, with the twenty-fifth, twenty-eighth, thirtieth, 

 thirty-second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, and the forty- 

 sixth, are annual, and must have their seeds sown upon a 

 hot-bed in the spring, and when the plants are fit to remove, 

 they should be planted separately in small pots filled with 

 light earth, and plunged into the hot-bed again ; they must 

 afterwards be treated in the same manner as other tender 

 annual plants from hot countries. 



25. Euphorbia Leevigata. Shrubby, branched: leaves 

 opposite, oblong, obtuse, smooth, quite entire. The whole of 

 this plant is smooth; stem unarmed; branches dichotomous 

 at the end, three and four times divided; leaves on short 

 petioles, logger than the internodes, shorter and narrower on 

 one side of the base, terminated by a minute dagger-point, 



even, veinless, glaucous, green : peduncles at top, from the 

 forks of the branchlets, solitary ; flowers small ; capsule 

 smooth, even, the size of a coriander-seed. Native of the 

 East Indies. For its propagation and culture, gee the pre- 

 ceding species. 



'* Dichotomous, with a bifid umbel, or none. 



26. Euphorbia Origanoides ; Marjoram Spurge. Leaves 

 serrulate, ovate, obtuse, three-nerved ; panicle terminating; 

 stems simple. This plant cannot at first sight be dis- 

 tinguished from Marjoram. It is a native of the island of 

 Ascension, and the Friendly Isles. 



27. Euphorbia Atoto. Uicliotomous : leaves ovate, quite 

 entire; umbel terminating. This is an annual plant, and a 

 native of the Friendly Islands. 



28. Euphorbia Hypericifolia ; St. Johns-wort-leaved Spurge. 

 Leaves serrate, oval-oblong, smooth ; corymbs terminating; 

 branches divaricate. It rises about two feet high, with a 

 branching stalk; peduncles axillary, alternate, erect, dicho- 

 tomous, commonly longer than the leaves, with the flowers 

 crowded together; calix very minute. This is an annual 

 plant, found in most of the cultivated grounds in the West 

 Indies ; every part of it is poisonous to hogs. For its propa- 

 gation and culture, see the twenty-fourth species. 



29. Euphorbia Mellifera ; Honey-bearing Spurge. Leaves 

 scattered, lanceolate-acute, even ; peduncles dichotomous ; 

 capsules muricated. It flowers in April and May. Native 

 of Madeira. 



30. Euphorbia Prostrata; Trailing Red Spurge. Leaves 

 oval, obscurely serrate; peduncles axillary, with about three 

 flowers ; stems diffused, smooth, herbaceous, a span in length ; 

 flowers on short pedicels, often in threes, but sometimes soli- 

 tary; petals purple. Native of the West Indies. For its 

 culture and propagation, see the twenty-fourth species. 



31. Euphorbia Maculata; Spotted Spurge. Leaves serrate, 

 oblong, hairy ; flowers axillary, solitary; calix green, petals 

 red; capsule hairy; branches patulous. This is an annual, 

 acrid, and milky plant, flowering in gardens in the open air, 

 and readily springing from seed. The stems are very nume- 

 rous, spreading closely on the ground. Native of Jamaica. 



32. Euphorbia Hirta ; Creeping Hairy Spurge. Leaves 

 serrulate, ovate, acuminate ; peduncles in axillary heads ; 

 stems hairy ; flowers crowded together, pedicelled, minute ; 

 calix blood-red. It is a native of both Indies; and is re- 

 commended by Browne as a powerful resolutive and de- 

 obstruent, operating by promoting perspiration and the uri- 

 nary discharge very abundantly. For its propagation and 

 culture, see the twenty-fourth species. 



33. Euphorbia Pilulifera. Leaves serrate, oval-oblong; 

 peduncles in two axillary heads ; stem upright. Native of 

 India. See the twenty-fourth-species. 



34. Euphorbia Hyssopifolia ; Hyssop-leaved Spurge. Leaves 

 subcrenate, linear; flowers fascicled, terminating ; stem up- 

 right. It flowers in August and September, is annual, and a 

 native of the West Indies. Browne extols a decoction of 

 this plant as an active warm medicine, after a passage is pro- 

 cured in the dry belly-ache by bathing in warm water, or on 

 any occasion where resolutive medicines are required. See 

 the twenty-fourth species. 



35. Euphorbia Thymifolia ; Thyme-leaved Spurge. Leaves 

 serrate, oval-oblong; heads axillary, glomerate, subsessile ; 

 stems procumbent. The whole plant resembles Thyme, is 

 annual, and a native of India. For its propagation and cul- 

 ture, see the twenty-fourth species. 



36. Euphorbia Parviflora ; Small-flmvered Spurge. Leaves 

 serrate, oblong, smooth ; flowers solitary ; stem erectish, alter- 

 nately branched ; peduncle axillary, an inch long, alternate, 



