DICOTYLEDON -EUrilOKBIACE/E - DIAGRAM 1 3. 



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FAMILY EUPHOEBIACEJE. 



This includes a number of plants which have a very peculiar 

 appearance. " The various kinds of spurge belong to this family. 



The flower exhibits no striking colours, 

 and there is a large pistil in the centre, 

 from which we can already perceive 

 the shape which the fruit will take. 

 Many Euphorbiacese have a milk-white 

 and very acrid juice. 



The box belongs to this family. It 

 is an evergreen, and grows very slowly. 

 However, it grows to a large tree in 

 time, and its wood is very expensive. 

 Spurge. It is used for wood engravings. A 



picture is drawn on a block of box-wood, which is then cut in 

 such a manner as to leave only the marks of the drawing in 

 relief ; and it is then covered with ink, and printed from. 



The castor-oil plant also belongs to the family Euphorbiacese. 

 It is sometimes grown in England for ornament ; but in hot 

 countries the seed yields an oil which is used in medicine as a 

 purgative. 



FAMILY CHENOPODIACE^E. 



This family contains the spinach, the leaves of which are eaten ; 

 and the beet, which is an extremely useful plant. The plants of 

 this family, like those of the last, bear small and inconspicuous 

 green flowers. 



The beet-root is not only used for human food when cooked, 

 and for food for cattle when raw ; it is largely cultivated on the 

 continent for the manufacture of sugar, which is contained in the 



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