ORDER EDPHORBIACE.E, OR SPURGE TRIBE. 493 



this order bear aromatic fruits ; but they are all much inferior 

 to the true nutmeg. 



669. Passing over several less interesting tribes, we come to 

 one of great extent and importance, the EUPHORBIACE^E, or 

 Spurge tribe, which is an order containing a large number of 

 plants, distinguished for their extreme acridity, and mostly 

 inhabiting tropical countries. A small number are natives of 

 this country ; and a few more are cultivated in our gardens. It 

 is fortunate, considering the injurious properties of this order, 

 that it should be easily distinguished from all others. The 

 stems, leaves, &c. have a milky juice ; the stamens and pistils 

 are not contained in the same flowers ; and the fruit ordinarily 

 splits into three divisions when ripe. The general structure of 

 the flower cannot be readily understood, by examining the com- 

 mon Euphorbias of this country ; since they have a peculiarity 

 which is characteristic of their genus. If the apparent flower of 

 one of the Spurges be examined, it will be found to consist of a 

 sort of cup divided into ten parts at its edge, and having a clus- 

 ter of stamens arising from its bottom ; with a long stalk in the 

 middle, curved downwards by the weight of the ovary that 

 grows upon its summit. These stamens are peculiar, from the 

 circumstance of their having a joint in what appears the fila- 

 ment of each ; and also in their successively growing up above 

 the mouth of the cup, discharging their pollen, and then shrivel- 

 ling up. It was formerly supposed that the whole of this 

 structure constitutes one flower; and as the young Botanist 

 would be likely so to consider it, it is desirable to explain the 

 reasons why it is not now so regarded. In the first place, no 

 other genus of this order has stamens and pistils united in the 

 same flower. Again, there is no other flower, in which the 

 stamens have jointed filaments, or the same confused arrangement. 

 Further, in many species, a sort of cup-like membrane springs 

 from this joint, much resembling a little calyx. For these and 

 other reasons, each supposed stamen is now regarded as a single 

 stamineous flower, and the portion of its filament below the 

 joint as its flower-stalk ; the ovary in the centre is in like man- 

 ner a pistilline flower ; whilst the cup from which they spring 



