382 
Lxxvn. ecpiiorbiacEjE. [Mercurialis. 
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 ; coty- 
ledons large, flat ; radicle superior. — Herbs, shrubs, or trees. 
Leaves, alternate , opposite, or whorled , sometimes none. — Acrid, 
often milky, vegetables, yielding food and poison, medicine, 
dye, and caoutchouc or India-rubber. The embryo is power- 
fully 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 
tigliuni is from Croton Tiglium , a drastic purgative : turnsol, 
a valuable dye and a highly acrid and drastic plant, is Crozo- 
phora tinctoria. Janipha Manihot, a most poisonous plant, 
affords the esculent cassava. The caoutchouc of Guiana is the 
inspissated juice of Siphunia elastica. Euphorbia officinarum, 
antiquorum, and Canariensis give the euphorbium of commerce. 
— 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. Mercurialis. Barren and fertile flowers separate. Perianth 3-par - 
tite. Stam. 9 — 12. Styles 2, simple. Caps. 2-celled, 2-seeded, 
loculicidal. 
2. Euphorbia. Stamens (12 or more) and 1 pistil collected within 
a campanulate involucre. Styles 3, bifid. Capsule 3-celled, 
3-seeded, thin and crustaceous, septicidal. 
3. Buxus. Flowers aggregate, barren ones usually with a fertile cen- 
tral one. Perianth 4-partite, with 1 — 3 bracteas at the base. 
Stam. 4. Styles 3. Caps. 3-celled, 6-seeded, coriaceous, 3-beaked. 
1. Mercurialis Linn. Mercury. 
Dioecious or monoecious. — Barren fl. Perianth single, tri- 
partite. Stam. 8 — 12 (or more), without any rudiment of an 
ovary; anthers of two globose lobes. — Fertile fl. Perianth 
single, tripartite. Fi aments 2 — 3, without anthers. Styles 2, 
simple. Ovary 2-celled, 2-ovuled. Caps. 2-celled; cells 1- 
seeded, bursting at the back. — So named, because the god Mer- 
cury is said to have discovered the virtues, of what kind soever 
they may be, of this plant. 
1. M . perennis L. ( perennial or Dog's M.); creeping perennial 
and dioecious, fertile flowers in stalked lax spikes, stem per- 
fectly simple, leaves rough. — a. leaves lanceolate stalked. E- 
B. t. 1872. — / 3 . leaves ovate subsessile. M. ovata Steud. et 
Hoppe. 
Woods and shady places abundant. — fl. Hedge-rows near Ilurstpier- 
point, Sussex. If. 3 — 5. — About 1 foot high. Leaves mostly on 
