EUPHORBIA PILULIFERA 



211 



red, and both upper and lower surfaces are hairy. The flowers are 

 very minute, and crowded in dense axillary or terminal cymes about 

 1 cm. in diameter. The fruit is a minute, yellow, three-celled capsule, 

 about 1 mm. in diameter, each of the three carpels being distinctly 

 keeled, and containing a single, tetragonal, wrinkled seed. 



E 



FIG. 110. Euphorbia pilulifera. A, flowering top ; 

 B, inflorescence ; C, fruit ; D and E, end and 

 side views of seed. C, D, E enlarged. (Pharma- 

 ceutical Journal.} 



The most conspicuous part of the drug is frequently the slender 

 rounded stems ; the leaves are often much broken, but the fruits, 

 which are very characteristic, can usually be found by examining the 

 inflorescence with a lens. The drug is odourless, but has a bitter taste. 



The student should observe 



(a) The slender cylindrical hairy stems, 



(b) The minute three-celled fruits, each carpel distinctly keeled ; 



