EUPHORBIA. 
ing to Scopoli, the leaves are very finely ferrate at the 
tip; the flowers between the rays and the branches male 
and feflile, with mod of the ftamens imperfedt, and five 
petals. The other flowers fertile and four-petaljed; 
germ neither villofe nor wanted. Native of woods, in 
the fouthern countries of Europe. 
95. Euphorbia characias, or red fpurge : umbel mul¬ 
tifid, bifid ; involucels perfoliate, emarginate ; leaves 
quite entire; (lent becoming fhrubby. Stems feveral, 
flirubby, four feet high, (or even five or fix in gardens,) 
Ample, thick, fomewhat woolly, thickening upwards, 
reddifli, with tratifverfe fears from the fallen leaves : the 
whole plant is very downy. Native of France, Spain, 
Italy, and Germany, in woods and hedges : with 11s it is 
rare, if really found at all ; at Papermill-pool-dam, in 
Heywood park, Staffordfhire, where Dr. Plot marks it to 
grow, Dr. Stokes has fearched for it in vain : it is faid to 
have been found in Needwood foreft. It flowers in June. 
96. Euphorbia Cretica, or Cretan fpurge : umbel mu 1 - 
tifid, bifid; involucelsorbiculate; leaves linear-lanceolate, 
villofe. This rifes with a flirubby purple flem near three 
feet high ; the flowers appear in May, and the feeds ripen 
in July. 
97. Euphorbia linearis, orlinear fpurge : dichotomous: 
peduncles folitary ; leaves oppofite, linear, quite entire. 
Native of the ifland of St. Crux, and communicated by 
Vahl. 
98. Euphorbia rofea, or rofe-coloured fpurge: dicho¬ 
tomous; leaves obovate, oblique at the bafe, tooth-let¬ 
ted at the tip ; flem deprefled, diffufed. Root almoft 
Ample, a fpan in length, going ftraight down, a little 
writhed; Items diffufed in a ring, roundilh, jointed ; 
joints knotty, dichotomous, (lightly hairy ; flowers heaped 
at the ends of the branches, males mixed with herma¬ 
phrodites ; the petals 'of a beautiful rofe-colour ; cap- 
fules frnooth. Native of the Eaft Indies, in driving fand. 
Communicated by Konig. 
VIII. New Species. 99. Euphorbia cucumer, or cu¬ 
cumber euphorbia. This and the two following were 
difeovered by M. Vaillant during his lair travels into the 
interior parts of Africa. The cucumber euphorbiaadheres 
to the earth no otherwife than by a few (lender roots. It 
riles to the height of nine or ten inches only ; and exactly 
refembles a cucumber, of which it has the bent llvape. 
It contains abundance of milky juice, which appeared to 
hint as cauftic as that of tlie great euphorbia. Its colour, 
which is a yellowiflt green, tinted with a beautiful (hade 
of violet towards the root, gives it a very attractive ap¬ 
pearance : but woe betide the man who fliould be tempted 
to eat of it! as it is a virulent poifon. 
100. Euphorbia melocoffita, or melon-ribbed euphorbia, 
does not rile more than three or four inches from the 
ground, to which it adheres by a colledlion of fibrous 
roots, ilfuing from feveral tubercles difpofed in the man¬ 
ner of a crown. The flem forms a flatted globe exca¬ 
vated at the fummit, and has ribs like the apple which in 
France is cailed calville blanche. Thefe ribs are elevated, 
thick, and convex ; have a greenifli colour, and are 
marked with brown tranfverfe bands. From the funnuit 
of the ribs ilfue feveral little tufts of pedunculate flowers. 
101. Euphorbia volvox, or caterpillar euphorbia, fo 
called, becaufe when he firft found it, he thought he per¬ 
ceived on it feveral beautiful caterpillars. From a very 
large tuberous root, which here and there throws out a 
few thready fibres, ilfue feveral (talks almofl: of the length 
of the finger : they creep along the ground, are twifted, 
woody, destitute of leaves, and furnifhed with feveral 
rows of round tubercles, each guarded by two prickles. 
All thefe kinds of euphorbia are to be dreaded, the 
laft two in particular ; becaufe being low and mixed with 
the herbage, like muflirooms, animals, as they feed, run 
the rilk of eating them with their palture. Our author 
confirms the account of the favages poifoning the refer- 
voirs of water with, this plant in order to procure the 
game which (hall drink of it. To eifoa tire death of the 
79 
animal, it is neceffary that the poifon reach the blood and 
mingle with it. Yet,- inconceivable as it may be, the 
animal, though poifoned, is not the lefs wholefome food, 
as our author fays he has experienced. However great 
may be the proportion of euphorbia thrown into a pond 
of water, he is perfuaded that it never diffufes itl’elf 
through the whole mafs. It is his opinion, that the poi¬ 
fon is a refinous juice, which, being from its nature inca¬ 
pable of combining with water, fwtms on the furface, 
and there forms a lliining greenifli oil, which, with a little 
attention, may be difeerned by the naked eye when the 
furface is frnooth. I tried (fays he) the qualities of this 
oil on myfelf, taking with a draw; from the furface of the 
bafin, a (ingle drop,'which I put upon my tongue ; and 
it gave me that kind of burning pain which a cauftic cc- 
cafions. I then took up feme water from the refervoiv 
in the hollow of my hand, and blowing off the oily fluid 
which fwam on the furface, I dipped the end of my tongue 
into the remainder, but could not perceive in it the flight- 
eft tafte different from that of water itfelf. He feems to 
think that milk is an antidote to the poifon of euphorbia, 
becaufe he fqueezed fome of the juice into a bafon of 
milk, and gave it to an ape, which fwallowed part of it 
without the lea It injury. He confelles, however, that 
the dofe was trifling. 
Propagation and Culture. The plants of the two firft di- 
vilions of this vaft genus are in general known by-the 
name of Euphorbimn. (The others were moftly known 
among authors, before Linnaeus, by the name of Tithy- 
malus, or fpurge.) Thefe plants are preferved in many 
Curious gardens, more for the oddnefs of their ftrudlure, 
than any real beauty ; bsit being fo extremely different in 
their form, from almoft any plants of European produc¬ 
tion, many curious perfons have been induced topreferve 
the feveral forts in their gardens. They are all of them 
full of a milky acrid juice, which flows out on their being 
wounded in any part : this juice will blifter the fled), if it 
happen to lie upon any tender part for a fliort time, and 
will burn linen almoft as bad as aquafortis, therefore the 
plants fliould be handled with great caution ; nor fliould 
the ends of their branches be ever bruifed or injured ; 
for if they are, it frequently occafions their rotting down 
to the next joint, and fometimes will deftroy the whole 
plant, if thofe injured branches are not cut off in time ; 
(o that whenever the branches appear to have been in¬ 
jured, the fooner they are cut from the plants, the lefs 
danger there will be of their fuffering from it; nor fliould 
any of the branches be cut between the joints, for the 
lame reafon. Mod of thefe plants were firft brought to 
Europe by the Dutch, who have been very curious to in¬ 
troduce great numbers of plants from India, and atfo from 
the Cape of Good Hope : from the latter a very great va¬ 
riety of curious plants have been of late years brought to 
Europe, many of which produce very elegant flowers, and 
are the greateft ornaments of the confervatory in the win¬ 
ter and fpring feafons. Thefe have been brought over 
in (eeds, but the different forts of Euphorbia came over 
moll of them in plants or cuttings; for thefe may be 
ealily tranfported to any aiftance, if either of them are 
put up in boxes, with any foft dry package, to prevent 
their being bruifed, or their (pines front wounding each 
other, and kept from moifture and cold ; with this care 
they may be kept fix months out of the ground, and if 
carefully planted will take root, and thrive as well as if 
they had been newly taken from the old plants, or out of 
the ground but a (hort time; which is a much more ex¬ 
peditious method of obtaining the plants than from feeds, 
when they can be procured. 
The greateft part of thefe fucculent plants grow na¬ 
turally upon barren rocky places, or in dry fandy foils, 
where few other plants will thrive ; therefore they fliould 
never be planted in rich or loamy earth here, nor futtered 
to receive much wet, which will caufe them to rot. The 
befit mixture of earth for thefe plants is about a fourth 
part of fereened lime-rubbifti, a fourth part of fea-fand, 
anck 
