DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERS. 211 
held in high estimation medicinally ; but it has no claim 
to beauty. The medicinal virtues of the plant reside 
chiefly in the leaves, and the most efficient mode of 
exhibiting it, is by means of a simple decoction; its pow- 
ers are those of a tonic, The reputation of it was, in old 
times, so great, that there were those who believed it 
would set bones; hence the common name. That it is a 
very bitter dose to take, I very well know by experience. 
EUPHORBIA.—Sprurcez. 
{Named after Euphorbus, who was a physician to Juba, King of Maurita- 
nia, and first used this plant in medicine.] 
This is a very extensive genus of curious, grotesque 
plants, many of them poisonous. Among them are some 
splendid hot-house plants. They are all milky, mostly 
herbaceous; some are leafless, some are armed with 
prickles. 
Euphorbia corollata.—Flowering Spurge.—This is one 
of the most elegant species peculiar to the United States ; 
a perennial, with subdivided umbels of conspicuous 
white flowers, and narrowish, oblong obtuse leaves, 
This plant is not uncommon in the sandy fields of the 
Middle States, and is in flower in June and July. Prop- 
agated by divisions of the root. 
E, Lathyris.—Caper Spurge.—A half-hardy biennial, 
from England, of handsome appearance, with inconspic- 
uous flowers; from May to September. From three to 
four feet high. The plants will stand the winter without 
protection, but are oftentimes entirely destroyed. A few 
plants should be taken up and placed in a dry cellar, and 
planted out in the spring. It has seed pods about the 
size and color of Caper buds, and are said to be some- 
times substituted for that pickle. Eaten in any quantity, 
they must prove highly deleterious. 
