THE SPURGE TRIBE. 1^7 



remarked, in course of time, when more exact views of 

 Botany began to be entertained, that a joint in the ap- 

 parent filament was seen nowhere else, that another 

 in the stalk of the ovary was equally unusual ; that 

 from this joint there sometimes springs a sort of cup- 

 like membrane ; that the confused arrangement of the 

 stamens was extremely unlike the regularity with 

 which those parts are usually inserted ; and, finally, that 

 no other genus could be foimd in the tribe of Spurges, 

 in which the stamens and the pistil occur in the same 

 flower. These considerations led to the discovery that 

 the cup is an involucre, ^\ith a glandular and lobed 

 border, that each stamen is a single flower, consisting 

 of a single stamen, without either calyx or corolla, the 

 place of those organs being indicated by the joint in 

 their middle, and that the ovary in the centre is, in 

 like manner, a single, separate flower ; so that the 

 apparent flower of a Spurge is in reality a curious 

 kind of flower-head. 



Thus you see, that even in so humble and insignifi- 

 cant a weed as this, there is much to study and admire. 

 In general, the species of Euphorbia are possessed of 

 but little beautv, but there are some remarkable ex- 

 ceptions ; for their floral leaves, and their cups, or the 

 glands upon them, become in certain cases coloured of 

 the most vivid tints, scarlet, crimson, emerald-green, or 

 white, and as the parts are usually enlarged in propor- 

 tion, a most brilliant efix3ct is occasionally produced, 

 notwithstanding the universal want of calyx and corolla 

 in this tribe. 



