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LXXVII. EUPHOEBIACE^. 



375 



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1. E. 



nigrum L. (black C, or 

 leaves linear-oblong, stigma witli 9 rays. 



Crake -berry) ; procumbent, 



E. B. t. 526. 



Mountainous heaths in the North, abundant. It. 4 — 6. 



A 



small procumbent, much-branching shrub, whose leaves have their 

 marghis so recurved as nearly to meet behind, leaving only a white 

 central line. Flowers axillary towards the summit of the branches, 

 small, purplish. Berries^ or rather drupes^ black, clustered, affording 

 abundant food to the moor-game. 



Ord. LXXVII. EUPHORBIACE^ Juss. 



Antkers ^nd pistils in distinct flowers. Perianth free, 3-4 (or 



Barren Jloivers, Stamens 1 or many. 



2— 3-celIed. 



more) cleft, or wanting. 

 Anthers 2-celled. 



/' 



Ovary 



3. Stigmas 



Ovules solitary or in pairs, pendulous. Styles 2 

 2 — 3, 2-lobed or compound. Capsule of 2 — 3, 1- or 2-seeded 

 united carpels^ usually bursting. and separating with elasticity 

 from the common axis, sometimes indehiscent or nearly so. 

 Seeds suspended. Embryo in the axis of fleshy albumen; 

 cotyledons large, flat ; radicle superior. — Stems herbaceous or 

 woody. Leaves, alternate^ opposite^ or whorled^ or alternate, 

 sometimes none. — Acrid, often milky vegetables, yielding food 

 and poison, medicine, dye, and caoutchouc or India-rubber, 

 The embryo is powerfully acrid and dangerous, the albumen 

 innocuous and even eatable. Castor oil is extracted from the 

 seed of Ricinus communis: Cascarilla of Europe is Croton 

 Eleuteria : Oil of Tiglium is from Croton Tiglium, a drastic 

 purgative : Turnsole a valuable dye and a highly acrid and 



Manihot^ a most 



The Caoutchouc 

 of Guiana is the inspissated juice of Siphonia elastica. En- 

 phorhia officinarum^ Antiquorum and Canariensis give the Eu- 

 phorbium of the shops. — The above character of the Order 

 applies to the British genera, but not to many foreign ones, 

 which would require it to be much more extended, some having 

 scales or petals within the perianth. 



1. Mercukialis. Barren and fertile flowers separate. Perianth S-par- 



tite. Stam, 9—12. Styles 2, simple. Caps. 2-celled, 2-seeded, 

 locuhcidal. 



2. Euphorbia. Stamens (12 or more) and 1 pistil collected within 



a campanulate involucre. Styles 3, bifid. Capsule 3 -celled, 

 i^-seeded, thm and crustaceous, septicidal. 

 0. l>uxus. Flowers aggregated, barren ones usually with a fertile cen- 

 tral one. Perianth 4-partite. Avith 1—3 bracteas at the base, 

 fotam. 4. Styles 3. Caps. S-celled, 6-seeded, coriaceous, 3-beaked. 



drastic plant, is Crozophora tinctoria. 

 poisonous plant, affords the esculent Cassava. 



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