E U P 
inches long, are feen in a horizontal pofition. They are 
wetted with water, by means of a fponge, and ftruked 
with the wet fingers in the direction of their length, fo 
that the increafe of the tone depends merely on the 
stronger or weaker prelTure, and the flower or quicker 
movement of the fingers. 
EUPON'ICAL, ad}. Sounding agreeably. 
EU'PHONY, f. [ euphonic , Fr. euphoria, Lat. of ev, well, 
and 0 arn , Gr. the voice.] An harmonious found; a 
fmooth or graceful flow of words. 
EUPHOR'BI A, f. [from Euphorbus, phyfician to king 
Juba.] Euphorbium or Spurge ; in botany, a genus of 
the clafs dodecandria, order trigynia, natural order tri- 
coccae, (euphorbice, jfujf.) The generic charadters are— 
Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, inflated, fomewhat co¬ 
loured, four-toothed at the mouth, (in fonte few five¬ 
toothed,) permanent. Corolla : petals four, (in fome 
few five,) turbinate, gibbous, thick, truncate, unequal 
in fituation, alternate with the teeth of the calyx, with 
their claws placed on the margin of the calyx, perma¬ 
nent. Stamina: filaments feveral, (twelve or more,) fili¬ 
form, jointed, inferted into the receptacle, longer than 
the corolla, breaking forth at different times ; anthers 
twin, roundifh. Piftillum : germ roundifli, three-fided, 
pedicelled ; ftyles three, two-cleft; ftigmas obtufe. Pe- 
ricarpium : capfule roundifli, tricoccous, three-celled, 
ftarting open elaftically. Seeds: folitary, roundifli.— 
EJfential CkaraBer. Corolla, four or five-petalled, placed 
on the calyx ; calyx, one-leafed, bellying; capfule, tri¬ 
coccous. 
Species. I. Shrubby, prickly. r. Euphorbia anti- 
quorum, or triangular fpurge : almoft naked, triangular, 
jointed ; branches fpreading. Stem triangular, com- 
prefled, fucculent, riling to the height of eight or ten 
feet, and fending out many irregular fpreading twilling 
branches, for the molt part three-cornered, but having 
fome two, and others four angles ; at their extremities 
are a few Ihort roundifli leaves, which foon fall off, and 
near thefe come out now and then a few flowers, which 
have five thick whitifli petals, with a large three-cornered 
germ in the centre ; they foon drop off without produc¬ 
ing feeds. It grows naturally in the Eaft Indies, whence 
the plants were brought to the gardens in Holland, and 
thence communicated to moll of the curious gardens in 
Europe. Mr. Miller cultivated it at Chelfea, in 1731. 
This has generally been taken for the true euphorbium, 
and as fuch has been direifted for medicinal ufe ; but it is 
from the fecond fort that the drug now imported under 
that name in England is taken. Linnaeus fuppofes the 
feventh to be the fort which Ihould be ufed ; but as they 
are all nearly of the fame quality, it may be indifferent 
from which this drug, which is the infpiflated juice of 
the plant, is taken. The juice of every fpecies of fpurge 
is fo acrid, that it corrodes and ulcerates the body where- 
ever it is applied; fo that it is feldom ufed internally. 
Externally it is dropped on warts or corns to remove 
them ; and in the hollow of a decayed tooth, to remove 
the pain by deffroying the nerve ; or it is rubbed behind 
the ears to give relief in the tooth-ach, by blillering. 
2. Euphorbia Canarienfis, or Canary fpurge : naked, 
fubquadrangular ; prickles in pairs. In its native coun¬ 
try, the Canary iflands, this grows to the height of 
twenty feet or more, but in England it is rar-ely feen more 
than fix or feven. The Item is very thick, green, and 
fucculent, and has four or five large angles, clolely armed 
with black crooked fpines, which come out by pairs at 
every indenture : it fends out from every fide large fuc¬ 
culent branches of the fame form, which extend to the 
diffance of two or three feet, and then turn their ends 
upwards, fo that when the plants are well grown, they 
have fome refemblance to a chandelier; they have no 
leaves, but are clofely armed with black fpines like the 
fiem : at the ends of the branches come out the flowers, 
which are Ihaped like thofe of the firft fort. The flowers 
Vo l. VIL No, 409, 
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appear in March and April. It was cultivated in 1697 
by the duchefs of Beaufort. 
3. Euphorbia edulis, or five-angled fpurge : prickly, 
leafy, five-angled; peduncles many-flowered, terminat¬ 
ing; flowers apetalous. Stem fix feet high, with prickles 
in pairs, and afeending branches ; leaves many, fcattered, 
almoft wedge-ftiaped, rounded at the tip, three inches 
long, quite entire, flefhy, fmooth. Native of Cochin- 
china, where the leaves are eaten boiled with other herbs. 
4. Euphorbia heptagona, or feven-angled fpurge : 
naked, feven-angled; fpines folitary, fubulate, flower- 
bearing. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
5. Euphorbia mammillaris, or warty-angled fpurge : 
naked; angles tubered, with fpines between. This dif¬ 
fers from the preceding in having the angles doubled and 
fwelling a little ; and the fpines Angle between the tuber¬ 
cles, which are placed longitudinally. Native of the 
Cape of Good Hope. It flowers in July and Auguft. 
6. Euphorbia cereiformis, or naked fpurge : naked, 
many-angled ; fpines folitary, fubulate. This fort has 
ftalks and branches very like thofe of the next, but much 
more flender ; the fpines of this are Angle, and thofe of 
the other double ; and the ends of the branches in this 
are clofely fet with flowers on every angle. Native of 
the Cape of Good Hope; flowers in June and July. 
7. Euphorbia officinarum, or officinal fpurge : naked, 
many-angled ; prickles doubled. This puts out many 
ftalks juft above the furface, which are thick, fucculent, 
and roundifli, having eight or ten angles whilft they are 
young, but as they grow old they lofe their angles and 
become round ; the branches grow diftorted and irregu¬ 
lar, firft horizontal, but afterwards turning upwards ; the 
angles are armed with fmall crooked fpines, and on the 
upper part of the branches, in June and July, come out 
the flowers ; they are fmall, and of a greenifli white. It 
grows naturally in Africa. Gerarde calls this the poi- 
fonous gim-thiftle: he cultivated it in his garden; “his 
friend Matter William Martin, a right expert chirurgion, 
having procured him the plants by his fervant that he 
fent to St. Crux in Barbary, as chirurgion of a fliip : he 
could not however keep them through the winter.” 
8. Euphorbia triaculeata, or three-prickled fpurge : 
prickly, naked ; Item round, grooved ; prickles in threes. 
This is a fiirub of a cubit high, fpreading and branchy : 
branches-about the thicknefs of a finger, fulcated longi¬ 
tudinally ; in the interjacent channels are inferted three 
prickles, of which the exterior are very fliort and bent 
downwards ; the middle one about an inch long, fubu¬ 
late, fpreading, and curving downward. The flowers 
fpring by threes from the bofoms of the prickles, and 
are feffile; the ftamens fix in number, two in each angle 
of the flower : the pifti 1 does not arife from the fide, as 
in many others. Native of Arabia. 
9. Euphorbia neriifolia, or oleander-leaved fpurge: 
angles obliquely tubercled. Stem upright, flrong, five 
or (ix feet high, with irregular angles, and protuberances 
oblique to the angles ; the lower part is naked, and the 
upper part branching; the branches are armed with 
crooked fpines ; at every protuberance and at the top are 
oblong leaves of a lucid green, very fmooth, entire, and 
rounded at the end ; thefe fall off in fpring, and the 
plants remain naked for fome months, and then (in June 
and July) the flowers come out; they fit dole to the 
branches, and are of a greenifh-white colour ; the leaves 
come out in the autumn. I.oureiro adds, that the (lent 
has four or five angles; that the branches are long, cl if- 
fufed, unjointed ; the ftem-leaves few, at the end fcat¬ 
tered, thick, fmall; and the flowers folitary, fcattered; 
fubterminating. Native of the Eaft Indies and Cochin, 
china. Much ufed for hedges, on account of its ftrong 
thorns. Cultivated in 1699, in the royal warden at Hama, 
ton Court. 
II. Shrubby, unarmed: ftem neither dichotomous; 
nor umbelliferous. 10, Euphorbia meloformis, or melon- 
U fpurge; 
