320 NATURAL HISTORY. 



abounding in an acrid milk. Many of them are poison- 

 ous, and many furnish esculent roots and fruit. 



The Box (Buxus sempervirens) has oval, evergreen 

 leaves. In the south grows into a tree twelve feet high. 

 In the north of Europe and United States it is only a 

 shrub. Leaves of latter small, numer-obovate ; flowers 

 yellowish, terminal. Many varieties. The wood of the 

 Tree Box is very hard and used for inlaying fine cabinet 

 work and wind instruments. ] ?. 



The Common Euphorbia, Wolf's Milk (Euphorbia 

 officinarum), stalk woody below, upper part fleshy, many- 

 angled, and prickly; leaves wanting, so that it has the 

 appearance of a great cactus. The stalk contains a great 

 quantity of milk sap, which flows partly spontaneously, 

 but always very plentifully from an incision made through 

 the bark, and when exposed to the sun becomes hard and 

 resinous. This sap is very acrid ; at first almost taste- 

 less, it gradually becomes intolerably pungent ; is poison- 

 ous and intensely cathartic ; also used for producing vesi- 

 cation. According to the Koran, this tree grows in the 

 infernal regions, and the unhappy beings condemned to 

 perdition are obliged to eat it.* h. 



The Common Spurge, Male Tree (Euphorbia esula) 

 is a small plant, found growing by road-sides : leaves 

 spiky, cuticular ; flowers yellow, standing in rayed tufts. 

 The stem is very succulent, and on being broken, pours 

 forth a milky juice, said to bo a specific for curing 

 warts. 2f . 



The Gum Elastic Tree or Hcvea Guianensis (Si- 

 phonia elastica) of Persoon, is a tall tree, measuring 

 sixty feet in height ; leaves ovate, gray, petiolate, in- 



* The violently drastic Croton Oil (Oil of Tiglium), the Indian spe- 

 cies, belong to this genus. Tr. 



