EUPHORBIACEE. 113 
SPECIES XV—EUPHORBIA LATHYRIS. Lim. 
Prats MCCLXVIL. 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. V. Tab. CXLUI. Fig. 4783. 
Biennial. Stem very stout, simple or with short branches or axillary 
tufts of leaves. Leaves opposite, decussate, sessile, strapshaped, acute, 
entire, the uppermost ones lanceolate-strapshaped. Umbel-rays 4, often 
unequal, somewhat irregularly three or four times 2-furcate. Bracts 
ovate or lanceolate, acuminate, subcordate, acute, mucronate. Invo- 
lucral glands lunate, with the cusps very blunt, diverging and 
ascending. Capsule globular, trigonous; the cocca rounded on the 
back, smooth. Seeds subcylindrical-ovoid, laterally compressed, 
rugose with anastomosing longitudinal ridges, pitchy black, rounded 
and slightly furrowed on the back, with a large hemispherical caruncule 
notched on the inner side. Plant glabrous; stem very glaucous; 
leaves leathery-fleshy, dark green above with a white midrib, paler 
and somewhat glaucous beneath. 
In copses, in rocky woods. Very rare. Probably native near Bath. 
It is found not unfrequently in cultivated ground and waste places in 
England and the south of Scotland, but cannot be regarded as 
_ indigenous in such localities. 
England, [Scotland, Ireland.]_ Biennial. Summer. 
E. Lathyris is very unlike all the other species of this genus. The 
first year of its growth a very stout stiff stem is sent up with very 
numerous narrow leaves 3 to 8 inches long; these leaves spread 
horizontally, and are perfectly decussate, so that, looking down the 
stem, they form a perfect cross. In the succeeding year an umbel is 
produced at the apex of the stem, when the whole atrains a height of 18 
inches to 4 feet. The involucres resemble a perianth with 2 rows of 
segments, the outer row being simulated by the glands, which have 
their cusps ascending instead of spreading horizontally. The capsule 
_is about 4 inch long, the seeds nearly 4 inch. 
Caper Spurge. 
French, Buphorbe épurge. German, Kreuzblattrige Wolfsmitch. 
The capsules of this species of spurge have been used as a substitute for capers, but 
are extremely acrid, and not fit to eat till they have long been macerated in salt and 
water, and afterwards in vinegar ; indeed, it may be doubted whether they are even 
then wholesome as a condiment. 
GENUS IJ—MERCURIALIS. Tournef. 
Flowers diccious or monecious, distinct, not united into a com- 
VOL. VII. Q 
