Flora Medica

EUPHORBIACE.&.MERCURIALIS.Dioecious, or occasionally monoeccious. Calyx 3-parted. $ .Stamens 9-12. ? Ovarium double, with 2 . opposite furrowsand 2 sterile filaments proceeding from either furrow. Styles2, forked. Fruit dry, consisting of 2 cells bursting with elasticity,and containing each 1 seed.384-. M. perennis Linn. sp. pi. 1465. E. Bot. t. 1872.S. and C. ii. t. 78. Cynocrambe Ger. em. 333. f. Commonin bushy places all over Europe.Root creeping. Herbage rough, fetid. Stems unbranched, square,a foot high, leafyin the upper part. Leaves ovate, acute, serrated,2 or 3 inches long, with small stipules. Flowers on axillary stalks, inuninterrupted, erect spikes ; the barren ones most numerous. Sterilefilaments very narrow, rising above the styles. Very poisonous,though, as appears from the accounts of ancient writers, it may beeaten boiled, as a pot-herb, if mixed with mucilaginous plants, and oilysubstances. Instances are, however, recorded of the fatal consequencesof its use occasionally in this country. Smith. According to Sloaneit has sometimes produced violent vomiting, incessant diarrhoea, aburning heat in the head, a deep and long stupor, convulsions, andeven death.385. M. annua Linn. sp. pi. 14-65. E. Bot. i. 559. Commonin waste ground in various parts of Europe.Root much branched; simple at the crown. Stem from 6 to 12inches high, erect, bushy, smooth, of a bright shining green, disposedto turn blueish after drying, like M. perennis. Branches numerous,crossing each other. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, serrated. Flowersgreen, the males in small tufts, ranged in interrupted spikes females;fewer, stalked, axillary, destitute of sterile filaments. The qualities ofthis are like those of M. perennis, though supposed to be rather lessvirulent. Smith.TRAGIA.Flowers monrecious. $ . Calyx 3-parted. Stamens 2-3.5 . Calyx 5-8-parted. Style 3-fid. Capsule 3-coccous. A. de J.386. T. involucrata Linn. sp. pi. 1391. ic. Jacq. rar. i. 1. 1 90.Roxb.fi. ind. iii. 576. (Burm. Zeyl. t. 92. Rheedeu. t. 39.)Shady places and hedges all over India.A perennial twiner. Branches covered closely with hair. Leavesstalked, oblong, acuminate, serrate, 3-nerved, very hairy and rough;stipules cordate. Racemes stalked, erect, many-flowered, with 1 femaleto each. Hairs of all the parts stinging. Roots according to theHindoo doctors useful in altering and correcting the habit in cachexiaand old venereal complaints attended with anomalous symptoms.Ainslie.188