etjpe] 



Cfje Crca3itrg of 33 o tang. 



476 



herbaceous plants. The species agree in 

 having all the florets tubular, perfect, and 

 furnished with a long branched style, and 

 in colour either purple, pink, or white, 

 never yellow. They are mostly natives of 

 America ; but one species, E. cannabi.num, 

 Hemp Agrimony, a tall plant with un- 

 branched stems, downy leaves, and ter- 

 minal crowded corymbs of dull pale pur- 

 plish flowers, inhabits watery places and 

 damp hedges in Britain. E. perfoliatum has 

 some reputation in America as a tonic 

 stimulant, and is administered in the form 

 of a decoction of the leaves ; it is em- 

 ployed also as a remedy in intermittent 

 fevers. French Ewpatoire ; German Ab- 

 kraut. [C. A. J.] 



The leaves of E. glutinosum have heen 

 considered to be the Matico of the Peru- 

 vians, a substance that is used as a styptic 

 and for other medicinal purposes. It is 

 possible that more than one plant bears 

 the name Matico, but the leaves brought 

 to this country under that name are those 

 of Artanthe elongala. [M. T. M.] 



EUPETALTJM. A genus of begoniads, 

 represented by undershrubs found in Peru. 

 The staminate flowers have four, and the 

 pistillate from Ave to eight sepals. There 

 are four species. The name is derived from 

 two Greek words, eit well or good, and pe- 

 talon a petal, in allusion to the character of 

 the sepals. The species were formerly in- 

 cluded under Begonia. [J. H. B.] 



EUPHORBIACEJE. (Pseudanthece, Trcivi- 

 acece, Spurgeworts.) A natural order of 

 monochlamydeous dicotyledons, typical of 

 Lindley's euphorbial alliance of diclinous 

 Exogens. They are trees, shrubs, or herbs, 

 with opposite or alternate often stipulate 

 leaves, and involucrate incomplete some- 

 times achlamydeous flowers. Perianth 

 when present inferior, lobed, with glandu- 

 lar scaly or petaloid appendages ; stamens 

 definite or indefinite, separate or united 

 in one or more bundles. Ovary one two 

 three or more celled ; ovules one or two. 

 Fruit usually of three carpels, which sepa- 

 rate in an elastic manner, sometimes fleshy 

 and not opening ; seeds with albumen, 

 and. often an aril; embryo with a superior 

 radicle. The plants abound in equinoctial 

 America ; they are also found in North 

 America, Africa, India, and Europe. They 

 are generally acrid and poisonous, and 

 contain much milky juice. Some yield 

 starch, others oils and caoutchouc. Euphor- 

 bia Latliyris,the caper spurge, has purgative 

 seeds, and a resinous matter having similar 

 qualities is procured from other species, 

 such as E. offlcinarum, antiquormnariA cana- 

 riensis. Cattimandoo, a kind of caoutchouc, 

 is got from another species in India. Castor 

 oil is procured from Ricinus communis 

 seeds; eroton oil from those of Croton Tig- 

 Hum. The seeds of Jatropha Curcas, or 

 physic-nut, are purgatives. Stillingia sebifera 

 is the tallow tree of China— the fatty matter 

 being procured from the fruit. Dyes are 

 supplied by Crozoplmra tinctorui, the turn- 

 sole, and Rottlera tinctorial the latter plant 

 also yields kauiila, a powder from its cap- 



sule, used for worms. Teak is yielded by 

 Oldfieldia africana ; caoutchouc by Siphon i'a 

 elastica, lutea, brevifolia, brasiliensis,. and 

 Spruceana ; and the poisonous manchineel 

 by Hippom ane Mancinella. Janipha Manilwt 

 or Manihot utilissima furnishes cassava and 

 tapioca, which consist of the starchy matter 

 from its root. Aleurites triloba yields eboe 

 oil ; Anisophyllum laurinum bears an acid 

 fruit called monkey-apple in Sierra Leone. 

 Colliguaja odorifera has peculiar jumpingor 

 moving seeds, owing to their becoming the 

 habitation of the larva of an insect. Box- 

 wood is the produce of Buxus sempervirens. 

 Hura crepitans,the sandbox tree, has a fruit 

 consisting of numerous carpels which, 

 when dry, separate with a loud report. 

 Species of Euphorbia abound in Africa, and 

 some of them attain a height of thirty or 

 forty feet, with a diameter of two feet at 

 the base of tfhe stem. There are 230 known 

 genera, and about 2,600 species. Examples : 

 Euphorbia, Hura, Mercurialis, Acalypha, 

 Siphonia, Jatropha, Ricinus, Andrachne, 

 Xylophylla, Phyllanthus. [J. H. B.] 



EUPHORBIA. The Spurge genus, which 

 gives its name to the order Euphorbiacea?, 

 comprises a very large number of species 

 ; distributed throughout almost the whole 

 world, and varying exceedingly in general 

 or outward appearance, but corresponding 

 - closely in the structure of the flowers. 

 All have to a greater or less extent a milky 

 juice. In the temperate regions of the 

 northern hemisphere the species are for 

 the most part herbaceous ; in warmer 

 countries, especially those of the southern 

 J hemisphere, they have a shrubby or even 

 j tree-like habit. Many of the South African 

 ; kinds, as well as those of other countries, 

 ! possess succulent spiny leafless stems 

 like Cacti. Variable as is the appearance 

 of these plants as regards their stems and 

 leaves, their flowers are all arranged on 

 the same plan. The flowers are monoecious, 

 collected into heads, surrounded by bracts 

 constituting an involucre; these flower- 

 heads are placed in umbels variouslybranch- 

 ed raggregated into clusters round the top 

 of the stem. The involucre is more or 

 less cup-shaped, four or five-toothed, the 

 lobes or teeth alternating with a number 

 of glands of various form. Within the 

 involucre are a number of stamens sur- 

 rounding a stalked ovary, hence giving the 

 appearance of a single flower ; but this is 

 not really so, as each stamen represents a 

 single male flower, because it is jointed in 

 the middle, and has at its base a separate 

 scale. There are really several monan- 

 drous male flowers surrounding a central 

 stalked female, which latter consists of 

 a three-celled ovary, with a three-cleft 

 style. The fruit consists of three single- 

 seeded carpels. 



A comparatively small number of kinds 

 are cultivated in this country, either for 

 their beauty or as objects of curiosity : 

 of the former E. punicea, E. splendens, 

 E. fvlgens, E. pruvifolia, and E. Bojeri may 

 be mentioned. These are all remarkable 

 for the brillianS scarlet colour of the bracts 



