CLASS XXI,. ORDER I.] EUPHORBIA. 1185 
beneath. Umbel large, of five or six principal branches, which are 
cleft into three branchlets, and again subdivided. Bracteas ovate, 
entire, often yellowish. Jnvolucre bell-shaped, with four broadly 
ovate glands, of a brownish purple colour, having four erect ovate 
scales, of a green colour between them. Capsules large, sub-globose, 
erect, three lobed, and more or less unequally warted, three celled, 
each cell containing a roundish smooth blackish brown seed. 
Habitat-—Hedges and thickets in the South of Ireland ; between 
Feversham and Sittingbourn, Kent,— Hudson. 
Perennial; flowering in June. 
The whole plant abounds with a very acrid milky juice, and Dr. 
Taylor says that it is extensively used by the peasantry of Kerry, for 
poisoning or rather stupifying fish, in the same manner as the exotic 
£. piscatoria : and the same author further states, that so powerful 
are its qualities, that a small creel or basket filled with the bruised 
plant suffices to poison the fish for several miles down a river. 
Hooker, British Flora. The properties of this genus resides in a 
peculiar resin, which forms the largest part of the milky juice. The 
resin found in the shops under the name of Euphorbium is chiefly 
obtained from the Z. officinalis, as well as H. antiquorum and E. 
caneriensis, plants growing in great abundance in the interior of 
Africa. They are shrubby plants, and the drug is obtained by making 
incisions in the branches, from which the milky juice exudes: the 
watery parts soon evaporate, and it is left in concrete tears of an 
oblong form, which are collected into masses for exportation. Its 
taste is acrid, and shortly produces inflammation in the mouth and 
throat if incautiously taken. According to the analysis of Brande, 
Euphorbium contains— 
REST eeey cons cececsss 40.01, » WIP o, cocccs unease OL00 
\ Gee SRREEEe seeseseeee 14.93 Sulphate of Potash ... 0.45 
Caoutchouc ......... 484 Sulphate of Lime...... 0.10 
Malate of Potash... 4.90 Phosphate of Lime... 0.15 
Malate of Lime ... 1882 Water .............0.... 5.40 
98.96 
So corrosive is the resin of this compound, that it speedily blisters 
the skin when applied to it; and, indeed, much caution is required 
with the fresh juice, for it, though not so corrosive, as the pure resin, 
equally produces inflammation and erosion of the skin. All our 
species of Euphorbia contain more or less of this acrid juice, but 
none of them are so acrid as the exotic species. Some of the leafless 
ones are furnished with numerous prickles on their sturdy stems, and 
in their native countries, Africa and Asia, are planted in hedge rows, 
and form most formidable fences; the prickles pierce and tear the 
skin, and the acrid sap filling the wound produces excruciating pain 
