74 E IT P II O 
fpurge: fubglobofe, many-angled. It flowers from May 
to September. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
n. Euphorbia caput--medufae, Medufa’s-head (purge ; 
and its three varieties : a,, major, or great Medufa’s-head 
fpurge; /3. minor, or final! Medufa’s-head fpurge; 
y. geminata, or leaft Medufa’s-head fpurge. Specific 
character, imbricate ; tubercles furnifired with a linear 
leaf; flowers fubpeduncled ; petals palmate. This has 
thick, roundifh, fucculent ftalks, which are fcaly ; they 
fend out many branches from their fides of the fame form, 
which are twifted, and run one over another, fo as to ap¬ 
pear like a parcel of ferpents, whence it has the appella¬ 
tion of Medufa’s head: at tIre end of thefe are narrow, 
thick, fucculent leaves, which drop off; and round the 
upper part of them the flowers come out: thefe are 
white, and of tIre fame form with thofe of the other 
lorts, but larger; they are frequently fucceeded by fruit. 
( 3 . Little Medufa’s-head has a thick fhort (talk, feidom 
more than eight or ten inches high, from which come out 
a great number of (lender trailing branches, about a foot 
in length, intermixing and having the fame appearance 
with the other, but ('mailer and much fhorter ; the ends 
are befet with narrow leaves, between which the white 
flowers come out. This fpecies was cultivated in 1731, 
by Mr. Miller. It is a native of Africa. 
12. Euphorbia clava, or dub fpurge: imbricate; tu¬ 
bercles jfurnifhed with a lanceolate leaf; flowers pedun- 
cled ; petals quite entire. Native of the Cape of Good 
Hope : a perfectly fmooth fpecies, -abounding with a 
milky juice, which feems fcarcely acrid. It flowers-from 
January to Atiguft. 
13. Euphorbia anacantha, or fcaly fpurge : imbricate; 
tubercles furnifhed with a roundifh leaflet; flowers ter¬ 
minating, folitary, feflile ; petals palmate. This is one 
ot the (mailer (hrubby fpecies. Native of the Cape of 
Good Hope ; and flowers in September and October. 
14. Euphorbia Mauritanica, or Barbary fpurge : half- 
naked, (hrubby, filiform, flaccid ; leaves alternate. 
Stems many, taper, fucculent, about four feet high, and 
requiring fupport; flowers in fmall clufters at the ends of 
the branches, of a yellowifli-green colour, and fometimes 
fucceeded by fmooth round fruit j but the feeds rarely 
ripen in England. It grows naturally on the African 
fliore in the Mediterranean. 
15. Euphorbia pifeatoria, or fmooth fpear-leaved 
fpurge: flmibby, Arid ; umbels five-cleft, terminating ; 
involucels oblong ; leaves linear, even. Native of Ma¬ 
deira and the Canary iflands. 
16. Euphorbia glabrata, or fmooth fpurge: unarmed, 
fhrubby, branched ; leaves oppofite, ovate, acute, fmooth, 
quite entire. The whole of this plant is fmooth. Na¬ 
tive of the Caribbee iflands. 
17. Euphorbia linifolia, or flax-leaved fpurge: ftem 
fuffruticofe ; leaves oppofite and alternate, linear-lanceo¬ 
late. Stem woody at the bafe, round and fmooth at bot¬ 
tom, ftriated angular and fubhirfute above ; the two 
lower branches oppofite, fhorter than the ftem ; the upper 
ones alternate. Native of the iftand of Dominique; 
communicated by Monf. Thouin. 
18. Euphorbia cuneata, or wedged fpurge 2 fhrubby ; 
leavesobovate; peduncles lateral, three-flowered. Na¬ 
tive of Arabia Felix. 
19. Euphorbia balfamifera, or balfam fpurge : fhrubby, 
ftritl ; head terminating ; leaves lanceolate, even, glau¬ 
cous. Native of the Canary iflands, whence it was in¬ 
troduced by MafTon in 1779. 
20. Euphorbia tirucalli, or Indian-tree fpurge : half- 
naked, fhrubby, filiform, eredt; branches patulous, 
crowded in an orderly manner. Stem taper, fucculent, 
eighteen or twenty-feet high, fending out many branches 
of the fame form, fubdividing into many fmaller ; they 
are jointed, but at a great diftance, fmooth, and of a 
deep-green colour, having a few fmall leaves at their ex¬ 
tremities, which foon fall off. As the plants grow older, 
R B I A. 
their (talks become ftronger and lefs fucculent, efpecially 
towards the bottom, where they turn to a brown colour, 
and become a little woody. The branches grow di flu fed', 
and intermix with each other, forming a fort of bufli to¬ 
wards the top. It does not produce flowers here. Na¬ 
tive of the Eaft Indies. 
21. Euphorbia tithymaloides : flmibby; leaves in a 
double row, alternate, ovate. This is a wand-like fub- 
eredt plant, fix feet high, the whole of it abounding in a 
white bitterilh milky juice. In South America, a ftrong 
deception of this plant, efpecially of the ft.alks, is given 
in venereal cafes, and in fuppreflions of the menfes. Na¬ 
tive of the Caribbee iflands and the neighbouring continent. 
Mr. Miller makes two fpecies of this, under the names 
of Tithymalus myrtifolins and lauroceralifolius, (myrtle¬ 
leaved and laurel-leaved fpurge.) The firft of thefe 
grows naturally near Carthagena in America, whence 
Mr. Robert Millar, furgeon, fent the branches, which 
were planted here, and fucceeded : it rifes with fhrubby 
fucculent (talks to the height of twelve or fourteen feet, 
which are too weak to (land without fupport, though they 
are frequently as large as a man’s little finger ; but their 
leaves, being fucculent, are fo heavy as to weigh down 
the branches if they are not fupported. The leaves are 
oval, and terminate in acute points ; they are two inches 
and a half long, and one inch and a half broad near their 
bafe ; they are about the thicknefs of bay leaves, and are 
ranged alternately on two fides of the branches, to which 
they fit clofe. The flowers are produced at the end of 
the branches three or four together ; they are of a fcarlet 
colour, of one petal in ftiape of a flipper.—The fecond 
grows naturally in Barbadoes, and mod of the other 
iflands in the Weft Indies, where the Englifli inhabitants 
know it by the title of poijon-bujh ; it has thicK, fhrubby, 
fucculent, ftalks, which will grow to the height of ten 
or twelve feet ; thefe are larger than thofe of the firft 
fort, and are garniftied with oblong oval leaves, ending 
with blunt points ; they are above three inches long, and. 
an inch and a half broad in the middle, of a very thick 
confidence, and of a dark green colour, ranged alternately 
on two fides of the (talk. The flowers grow at the end 
of the branches; they are (liaped like thofe of the firft 
fort, and are of a deep red colour. The whole plant 
abounds with an acrid milky juice, which will draw 
blifters on the flefli wherever it is applied ; and, if it 
mixes with the blood, it becomes a deadly poifon : fo 
that if the points of arrows, or the edges of fwords are 
rubbed with this juice, it becomes fatal to any animal 
wounded with thofe weapons. 
22. Euphorbia heterophylla, or various-leaved fpurge : 
leaves ferrate, petioled, difform, ovate, panduriform ; (di¬ 
chotomous with a bifid umbel.) This is an annual plant, 
from two to three feet high. It grows naturally at La 
VeraCruz, whence Dr. Houftoun fent the feeds. Mori- 
fon fpeaks with admiration of the heterogeneous leaves 
in this plant, a circtimftance which is (ince found not to 
be uncommon, particularly in the plants from the South 
Seas. He fpeaks of this fpecies of fpurge as attaining 
the height of a man, even in this country, with a trunk 
an inch in thicknefs and more, fpreading out into ftraighr, 
long, pliant, branches, having Come leaves three or four 
inches long, and narrow, refembling thofe of the narrow- 
leaved willows, others on the fame branch foft, like thole 
of an atriplex or orach, tending to a fea-g'reen colour, 
finuated, and from an incli to near two inches in breadth, 
others again very long and narrow. Varieties are ob- 
ferved in this plant; fome having a reddifh and fomewhat 
wrinkled bark, whilft in others it is green and fmooth, 
the leaves alfo being fubjedb to vary much, as might be 
remarked in the royal garden at Hampton Court, where 
this fpurge was cultivated in 1690. This being fhrubby, 
and fo large a plant, cannot be the annual fpecies of 
Miller deferibed above. It belongs, as Retzius has ob- 
ferved, to the third fedtion. 
33. Euphorbia 
