spurge: A genus of the trigynia order, belonging to the dodecandra clas of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 38th order, Tricoccce. The corolla is tetrapetalous or pentapetalous, placed on the calyx; the calyx is monophyllous and ventricose; the capsule tricoccous. There are 62 species, five of which are natives of Great Britain. They are mostly shrubby and herbaceous succulents, frequently armed with thorns, having stalks from 10 or 12 inches to as many feet in height, with quadripetalous flowers of a whitish or yellow colour. They are easily propagated by cuttings; but the foreign kinds must be always kept in pots in a stove. If kept dry, they may be preserved for several months out of the ground, and then planted, when they will as readily take root as though they had been fresh. The juice of all the species is so acrid, that it corrodes and ulcerates the body wherever it is applied; so that physicians have seldom ventured to prescribe it internally. Warts, or corns, anointed with the juice, presently disappear. A drop of it put into the hollow of an aching tooth, gives relief, like other corrosives, by destroying the nerve. Some people rub it behind the ears, that it may blister.

One of the foreign species, named efula, is such a violent corrosive, that, if applied to any part of the body, it produces a violent inflammation, which is soon succeeded by a swelling that degenerates into a gangrene and proves mortal. There is a species at the Cape, and flowers which supplies the Hottentots with an ingredient for poisoning their arrows. Their method of making this pernicious mixture, is by first taking the juice extracted from the Euphorbia, and a kind of caterpillar peculiar to another plant which has much the appearance of a species of rhiz. They mix the animal and vegetable matter; and after drying it, they point their arrows with this composition, which is supposed to be the most effectual poison of the whole country. The euphorbia itself is also used for this purpose, by throwing the branches into fountains of water frequented by wild beasts, which after drinking the water thus poisoned, seldom get 1000 yards from the brink of the fountain before they fall down and expire. This plant grows from about 15 to 20 feet in height, sending out many branches full of strong spines. The natives cut off as many of the branches as they think necessary for the destruction of the animals they intend to poison. They generally conduct the water a few yards from the spring into a pit made for the purpose; after which they put in the euphorbia, and cover the spring, so that the creatures have no choice. No animal escapes which drinks of such water, though the flesh is not injured by the poison.