EUPHORBIA 



EUPHORBIA 



561 



most temperate and tropical regions. Many are desert 

 plants, and the greater number grow in dry and sterile 

 places. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees, often fleshy and cactus-like, 

 or low and prostrate weeds ; but all characterized by a 

 single pedicellate-pistillate flower, with a 3-celled, 3- 

 seeded ovary, without floral envelopes or with a minute 

 calyx, surrounded by numerous staminate flowers con- 

 sisting each of a single stamen, the insertion of which is 

 represented by an articulation with the pedicel, the 

 whole surrounded by a more or less cup-shaped involucre, 

 with 5 lobes, and bearing 1-5 glands of various shapes 

 between the lobes. The staminate flowers are usually 

 subtended by minute bracts. The glands often bear 

 petal-like appendages, the whole involucre (or cyathium) 

 closely simulating a perfect flower (Fig. 794). 



Most of the species have abundant milky juice, and 

 the cactiform species have been thus distinguished from 

 cacti, but many cacti also have milky juice. The juice 

 of most species is acrid poisonous, especially if it comes 

 in contact with mucous membranes or open sores. The 

 juice from some of the species is used in medicine as a 

 purgative. 



Monographed by Boissier inDeCandolle's Prodromus, 

 15, pt. 2 (1862). See local floras and Norton, Rept. Mo. 

 Bot. Gard. 11, for native species. Works like Nichol- 

 son's Gard. Diet, and Bois' Diet. d'Hort. describe a 

 number of cultivated species. See also Fobe, in Monats- 

 schrift fur Kakteenkunde, 8:42 (1898). 



Many of the fleshy species are cultivated by lovers of 

 succulents for their'curious shapes ; and a few are valu- 

 able for their ornamental foliage. The flowers are usu- 

 ally too minute to fee noticeable. Some, like E. corollata 

 (Fig. 794), E. maculata, E. Cyparlssias and E. margi- 

 nata, are weeds in America, but not troublesome. The 

 great majority of the species are insignificant herbs. 

 The species are remarkably free from injurious insects, 

 and are rarely attacked by a few fungi. 



The fleshy species are grown much the same as cacti 

 (which see), but the culture is less difficult, and they 

 do well with warmer treatment. In winter they are kept 

 in a dry and cool house, 50 to 55 F., with good light 

 and little water. Drips must be carefully avoided. In 

 summer the pots should be plunged outdoors in hot, dry 

 situations, with a moderate supply of water and espe- 

 cially good drainage. It is better to protect them from 

 continued rain, but most species do well without this. 

 The more fleshy species, like E. Caput- Medusa and E. 

 meloformis, require more heat and better care than the 

 others. They are propagated by cuttings. Grafting has 

 not been practiced to a great extent, as with cacti, but 

 seems possible. They do not require a rich soil, and do 

 well in a coarse, sandy loam, or some say in any kind 

 of soil. 



The shrubby species, like E. atropurpurea and E. 

 dendroides, do well with the treatment of the more fleshy 

 kinds. See D. A. W. and F. S. Curtis, in Sharon Cactus 

 Guide, Mar. and May, 1897. 



The few hardy species of ornamental value make good 

 border plants or are suitable for the rockery. They are 

 mostly propagated by division. The annuals are easily 

 grown from seeds. 



E. pulcherrima and E. ftilgens are good winter-flower- 

 ing greenhouse plants, and require special treatment. 

 E. fulgens succeeds well in the warmest parts of the 

 house, in pots, or best planted out like roses and trained 

 upon the wall or strings. It is propagated from cuttings 

 taken in June, when the old plants have started to grow, 

 kept in a warm frame until rooted, and then kept 

 growing with heat, any transfers being made with as 

 little root disturbance as possible. If stocky show plants 

 are wanted, several cuttings may be planted in one pot 

 and checked two or three times during summer by re- 

 potting, and kept pinched back freely to secure branches. 

 They are best kept cooler when in flower, but are very 

 sensitive to cold or sudden changes in temperature. 

 After flowering they are kept dry for a few months. 

 For the cut sprays they are best grown from cuttings 

 each year. They last very well when cut. The culture 

 of the Poinsettia is very similar. To secure plants 

 with large heads, the general plan is to grow from cut- 

 tings annually, but the old plants may be continued. 

 Old plants that have been resting may be introduced 



794. Flowers of Euphorbia 



corollata (X 2). 

 The pistillate flower is at 8. 



to heat and moisture in late spring, and will soon give 

 a liberal supply of cuttings, which are usually taken from 

 the young wood. Successive sets of cuttings may be 

 made at later periods if different sized plants are wanted. 

 When well started, the potted plants are plunged out- 

 doors till September, with plenty of water, light and 

 sunshine and good drainage. They do well in rich, 

 heavy loam in 5-7-in. pots. They are apt to drop their 

 leaves if exposed to cold 

 or other unfavorable con- 

 ditions. In autumn they 

 are transferred to the 

 greenhouse, with moder- 

 ate temperature. When 

 the bracts begin to ap- 

 pear, give more heat and 

 some manure water to 

 expand them. When in 

 flower, reduce the tem- 

 perature to preserve 

 them longer. After flow- 

 ering the pots may be 

 stowed away in a dry, 

 warm place till spring, 

 under the benches will 

 do. When the buds are 

 cut the great objection is 

 that they wilt easily. This 

 may be obviated by dip- 

 ping the cut ends in boil- 

 ing ,.water, or keeping 

 them in water for a few days before using. See Grieve. 

 G.C. III. 9:106, and Hatfield in Gard. and Forest 9:496. 



E. splendent is another winter bloomer, and may be 

 treated as the succulents, with more heat and water. It 

 will do well in living rooms, and bears some flowers 

 all the year. It bears rough treatment well, and is 

 propagated by cuttings from the young growth, which 

 root with the greatest ease. J> B s> NORTON. 



CULTURE OF POINSETTIA. Euphorbia pulcherrima 

 and varieties are fine shrubs, evergreen or deciduous, 

 according to the climates in which they are grown. 

 They are found at considerable elevations in Mexico, 

 and subtropical conditions encourage their highest de- 

 velopment. The original plants were introduced by a 

 Dr. Poinsett, of Charleston, S. C., who sold them to the 

 late Robert Buist, about 1833. Buist was a famous 

 Scotch nurseryman of Philadelphia, who, during the 

 early seventies, also distributed the so-called double va- 

 riety. He sent both forms to Europe, and never quite 

 forgave the botanists for changing the name which he 

 gave the plant Etiphorbia Poinsettiana. 



Under natural conditions Poinsettias form large 

 bushes from 5-10 feet high and 12 or 14 feet in di- 

 ameter, with woody bases and hollow annual growths. 

 Flowers small, yellow, surrounded by an involucral crown 

 of intense crimson leaves, the whole as large as a som- 

 brero when well developed, varying to the smaller grow- 

 ing variety with creamy white bracts. Their highest de- 

 velopment has been noted at Kotergherry, on the Nilgiri 

 mountains of South India, at an elevation of about 6,000 

 feet, with a rainfall of 50 inches. The minimum tempera- 

 ture varies from 51 F. in January to 60 in July and 

 August, the maximum from 66 F. in January, grad- 

 ually increasing to 70 in July and August. In 

 parts of the Mediterranean basin, in southern California 

 and similar climates, and in many parts of the tropics 

 at the sea level, the plants are grown, but do not reach 

 such great perfection, for they become deciduous and 

 often stunted. The period of flowering in the northern 

 hemisphere is from late November to March. 



There are several ways of managing the plants in 

 cultivation. They are propagated by single eyes, by 

 4- or 5-inch cuttings of the one-year-old wood, or by 

 young shoots with a heel of hard wood about March, or 

 by the green tops about the end of August. If they are 

 intended for pot culture as large plants, they simply re- 

 quire shifting along to 8- or 10-inch pots, with good 

 drainage and good, turfy soil, with rather more sand 

 than is commonly used for roses. After these large 

 plants have bloomed, they may be stowed away to rest 

 in a dry, light shed with a temperature of not less than 

 50. Do not water them, and before the buds wake up 



