472 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE NATURAL ORDERS. 



by one or both sutures. Seed with a large embiyo in fleshy albu- 

 men, suspended. — Ex. Euphorbia (Spurge), Croton, Buxus (the 

 Box). Acrid and deleterious qualities pervade this large order, 



chiefly resident in the milky jtiice. But the starchy accumulations 

 in the rhizoma, or underground portion of the stem, as in the ISIan- 

 dioc or Cassava (Janipha Maniliot) of tropical America, are per- 

 fectly innocuous, when freed from the poisonous juice by washing 

 and heating. The starch thus obtained is tlie Cassava, which, when 

 granulated, forms the Tapioca of commerce. The farinaceous albu- 

 men of the seed is also innocent, and the fixed oil which it frequently 

 contains is perfectly bland. But the oil procured by expression 

 abounds in the juices of the embryo and integuments of the seed, and 

 possesses more or less active properties. The seeds of Ricinus com- 

 munis yield the Castor oil : and those of Croton Tiglium, and some 

 other Indian species, yield the violently drastic Croton oil or Oil of 



PIG. 1142. Flowering branch of Euphorbia corollata ; the lobes of the involucre resem- 

 bling a corolla. 1143. Vertical section of an iuTolucre (somewhat enlarged), showing a portion 

 of the staininate flowers surrounding the pistillate flower (a), which in fruit is raised on a 

 Blender pedicel. 1144. One of the staniinate flowers enlarged, with its bract, a : 6, the pedicel, 

 to which the single stamen, c, is attached by a joint ; there being no trace of floral envelopes. 

 1145. Cross-section of the 3-pistillate fruit. 1146 Vertical section of one of the pistils in fruit 

 (the two others having fallen away froul the axis), and of the contained seed ; showing the em- 

 bryo lengthwise. 1147. A seed. 



