Euphorbiaceae

“ Pliny has here mistaken a passage of Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. ix. c. 31; where he attributes this quality to the Struthium, and not the Heraclium.
1667 See c. 76 of this Book. It is difficult to conjecture how one of the Euphorbiaceæ, a powerful drastic, could enter into the composition of a soothing preparation, such as the diacodion is said to have been.
1668 “Capitibus.” As Fée remarks, the capsules of Euphorbia bear no resemblance whatever to the heads of the poppy. Dioscorides, B. iv. c. 67, similarly confounds these two plants. ”

“ Some are herbs, as our Spurges, others are shrubs and trees; some African Euphorbia-species even resemble the habit of a Cactus. Leaf-like branches with rudimentary leaves are found in Phyllanthus (sub-genus Xylophylla) (Fig. 456) . The leaves are scattered or opposite, often stipulate; they are nearly always simple. Large, highly-branched cells containing a great quantity of pungent latex are found in many, and watery juice in others. Glands and glandular hairs are general.—Only a few genera can be considered in this book. ”

“ These tender and delicate, exquisitely beautiful bulbs flourish amongst the succulent Euphorbias and Mesembryanthemums, between the hedgehog-like thorny plants and the woody little densely-branched mats of the permanent flora. The rain stimulates even these last to put out green leaves and flowers, but their time comes later on, when by the return of the usual drought every leaf and flower and the fruit of every bulb has been shrivelled up, turned into powder, and scattered in dust by the wind. ”

“ It grows well in peat and loam, and is increased by seed or by cuttings of the young shoots in spring in bottom-heat. Pinch back freely until the end of July, leaving all growth after that period. Height, 2-1/2 ft.
Euphorbia.—An elegant class of plants. The stove and greenhouse varieties are generally succulent, and require but little water, while the hardy kinds need plenty of moisture. Any rich, light soil suits them, but for the tender, succulent plants it should be mixed with brick rubbish. Best grown from seed, though the roots may be divided. ”

“ The large genus Euphorbia shows great variety in habit; many species, like the English spurges, are annual herbs, others form bushes, while in the desert regions of tropical Africa and the Canary Islands species occur resembling cacti, having thick fleshy stems and leaves reduced to spines. Another large genus, Phyllanthus, contains small annual herbs as well as trees, while in some species the leaves are reduced to scales, and the branches are flattened, forming phylloclades. ”

“ V. Genus; VI. Species.
To illustrate: The white pine belongs to the highest great division (sub-kingdom) of the plant kingdom. The plants of this division all produce seeds, and hence are called “spermaphytes” (“seed plants”) . They may be divided into two groups (classes) , distinguished by certain peculiarities in the flowers and seeds. These are named respectively “gymnosperms” and “angiosperms,” and to the first our plant belongs. The gymnosperms may be further divided into several subordinate groups (orders) , one of which, the conifers, or cone-bearing evergreens, includes our plant. ”

“ Mixed peaty and loamy soil, deep and cool. Several charming American species are now in cultivation.
Euphorbia.—Plants whose beauty resides in the bracts or floral leaves which surround the inconspicuous flowers. E. aleppica, 2 ft., 770 and E. Characias, 2 to 3 ft., with green bracts, are fine plants for rockwork or sheltered, corners.
Ferula.—Gigantic umbelliferous plants, with magnificent foliage, adapted for shrubbery borders or open spots on lawns. They have thick fleshy roots, deeply penetrating, and therefore requiring deep soil, which should be of a light or sandy character. ”

“ Leaves at base of umbel broad, resembling those of the inflorescence Spurge, Euphorbia lucida. 15a. Upper stem-leaves distinctly narrowed at the base; introduced species of waste places (summer) Spurge, Euphorbia peplus. [Pg 68] 15b. Upper stem-leaves rounded at the sessile base; native species of woodlands (spring and early summer) Spurge, Euphorbia commutata.
CALLITRICHACEAE, the Water Starwort Family
Small herbs growing in water or in mud, with opposite entire leaves and small inconspicuous axillary flowers, with neither calyx nor corolla. (Flowers in summer) . ”

“ The subject of Euphorbia is interesting—a woman to whom marriage brings non-fulfilment, whose husband tramples and uproots the red-and-white wild flower she loves. When at length the man dies, the mother has one fearful moment in which her child reaches toward a bit of euphorbia [Pg 289] with she knows not which intention. ”

“ The Seed-bearing plants form the most numerous group in existence, not less than 120,000 species being known. The subkingdom was formerly known as Phanerogamia, or Phaenogamia and more recently as Anthophyta, this term signifying the presence of flowers, which characterizes most of the group. But the consideration that the spore-bearing organs of the Pine Family cannot well be regarded as flowers, and the fact that the production of seeds is the most characteristic difference between these plants and the Pteridophyta, are reasons which have led to the acceptance of the term here adopted. ”

“ The euphorbia are plants of mean appearance, very common everywhere. Their flowers, small and yellowish, grow in a head, the even branches of which radiate at the top of the stem. These plants are easily recognized by their white juice, their milk, which runs in abundance from the cut stems. ”

“ The most modern works and those in highest repute consider the south of Asia to be the original home of this Euphorbiacea; sometimes they indicate certain varieties in Africa or America without distinguishing the wild from the cultivated plant. ”

“ The flowering plants have several distinct and visible organs for the formation and fertilization of their seed, to each of which is assigned a special and necessary office. In the flowerless section, on the contrary, there are none of these visibly separate agencies in reproduction, and what are usually termed the seeds do not show any parts representative of the developed product. In the true seeds, which belong to flowering plants alone, are contained the rudiments of a stem, leaves, and root, but in the spores of the flowerless plants nothing of the kind is found. ”

“ I am afraid it has been rather a difficult history to follow step by step, and yet it is perfectly clear when once we master the succession of growths. Starting from a spore, the thread-mass or protonema gives rise to the moss-stems forming the dense green carpet, then the green flowers on some of the leaf-stems give rise to a plant-egg, which roots itself in the stem, and grows into a perfect plant without leaves, bearing merely the urn in which fresh spores are formed, and so the round goes on from year to year. ”

“ Plantains or Ribworts (mostly wind-fertilized) are strikingly proterogynous: so is Amorpha, our Papaws, Scrophularia, and in a less degree the blossom of Pears, Hawthorns, and Horse-chestnut.
340. In Sabbatia, the large-flowered species of Epilobium, and strikingly in Clerodendron, the dichogamy is supplemented and perfected by movements of the stamens and style, one or both, adjusted to make sure of cross fertilization.
341. Heterogony. This is the case in which hermaphrodite and fertile flowers of two sorts are produced on different individuals of the same species ”

“ It may seem rather paradoxical to select Euphorbia as an example of the same relation; this genus being considered by Linneus, and the greater part of the botanists who have adopted his system, as having a dodecandrous hermaphrodite flower. We have already, however, I believee sufficient evidence that this supposed hermaphrodite flower is in reality formed of several monandrous male flowers surrounding a single female [4] . ”

“ In these the axis remains short, nearly as it is in the bud; the leaves therefore remain close together in sets or circles; the outer ones, those of the calyx, generally partake more or less of the character of foliage; the next set are more delicate, and form the corolla, while the rest, the stamens and pistils, appear under forms very different from those of ordinary leaves, and are concerned in the production of seed. This view gives to Botany an interest which one who merely notices the shape and counts the parts of blossoms, without understanding their plan, has no conception of. ”

“ The tender young shoots of Kleinia ante-euphorbium, or Euphorbia Mauritanica, which for many inches of their lengths have scarcely any ligneous fibres, show us scarcely any escape of the coloured liquid from the vessels of the medullary sheath. So, too, is it with Stapelia Buffonia, a plant of another order, having soft swollen axes. And then we have a repetition of the like connexion of facts throughout the Cactaceæ: the most succulent showing us the smallest permeability of the vessels. ”

“ Leaves of the involucre broadly triangular-ovate, widest near the base Spurge, Euphorbia obtusata. 12b. Leaves of the involucre broadly obovate to nearly circular, widest near or above the middle Spurge, Euphorbia helioscopia. 13a. Stem-leaves narrowly linear, less than 3 mm. wide (2-4 dm. high; late spring and summer) Cypress Spurge, Euphorbia cyparissias. 13b. Stem-leaves narrowly oblong-spatulate, more than 5 mm. wide, and more than 3 times as long as wide (2-6 dm. high; summer) — 14. 13c. Stem-leaves obovate to nearly circular, not more than twice as long as wide (1-4 dm. high) — 15. ”

“ It thrives in the Botanic Garden and very likely may soon spread onto Michigan farms.
Fig 122. Leafy Spurge. Euphorbia Esula L.
Leafy Spurge. Euphorbia Esula L. Seeds dull, light drab colored, broad-oval, narrowed at one end, nearly circular in transverse section, 2.3 mm. long, not including a wrinkled bunch (caruncle) at the base, a dark vertical line (raphe) extending above one side opposite which is another ridge the color of the seed. Introduced from Europe. [Pg 144] ”

“ The pollen-grains are “multicellular,” i.e. there is always in their interior a distinct prothallium, formed by 1–3 cells, and a larger cell which gives rise to the pollen-tube.
Division 5. Angiospermæ. The carpels surround the ovules and form an entirely closed chamber (ovary) , in which the ovules mature and ripen into seeds. The surface of a portion of the apex of the carpel is transformed into the “stigma,” which, by a sticky fluid and also by hair-structures, is capable of retaining the pollen-grains conveyed to it by the wind, or more frequently by insects. ”

“ In the pursuit of this diversified and attractive flora, the multiplicity of dwarf shrubs, of rushes, and of euphorbias, stands only too good a chance of being completely overlooked.
EUPHORBIA TREES.
For miles this sandy substratum forms shallow, grassy valleys from 10 to 20 feet deep, and varying from 100 to 900 yards in length, running parallel to each other, and alternating with wooded eminences rising 30 to 50 feet above the sea level. ”

“ Ordinarily in this country Eucalyptus seeds are sown in a mixture of loam, peat, and ordinary soil, with a sprinkling of sand on the surface, and are readily raised in a greenhouse.
Having now described, as fully as time will allow, the general and botanical characters of the Eucalyptus globulus and other species of Eucalyptus, we proceed to refer to their properties and uses, with more especial reference to Eucalyptus globulus. ”

“ If this be a correct view of the structure of Euphorbia, it may be expected that the true filament, or upper joint of what has commonly been called filament, should, as in other plants, be produced subsequent to the distinct formation of the anthera, which consequently will be found at first sessile on the lower joint or peduncule, after that has attained nearly its full length; and accordingly this proves to be the case in such species as I have examined. ”

“ Alpine mat formers, such as Silene acaulis, Paronychia pulvinata, Arenaria sajanesis, etc., are typical examples. Xerophytic, turf-forming species of Muhlenbergia, Sporobolus, Bouteloua, Festuca, Poa, and other grasses form striking ring-like mats, while creeping species of Euphorbia, Portulaca, Amarantus, etc., produce circular areas. Rosettes, bunch-grasses, and many ordinary rootstalk plants spread rapidly by runners and rhizomes. The direction of growth is often indeterminate in these also, and is in consequence more or less bilateral or unilateral. ”

“ A great number of genera might be arranged under the present head. But the following list comprehends all which require mention. Euphorbia, or spurge, the ricinus, or castor-oil tree, the jatropha, or cassava-plant, croton-oil, elaterium, or squirting cucumber, colocynth, or bitter-apple, bryony, or wild cucumber, ranunculus, or buttercup, anemone, stavesacre, celandine, marsh marigold, mezereon, spurge-laurel, savine, daffodil, jalap, manchineel, cuckow-pint. ”

“ The young plants of Euphorbias, Ixoras, Poinsettias, and other such stove plants, to be rendered bushy by stopping them betimes. The Æschynanthus grandiflorus, Aphelandra cristata, Eranthemum pulchellum, Justicias, and any others that are intended for the decoration of the conservatory in the autumn and early part of winter, should be carefully looked over, and shifted without delay if they want more pot-room; the shoots to be tied out thinly, and to be exposed to as much sun as they will bear without scorching the foliage, to induce stocky growth. ”