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Bible Encyclopedias
Euphorbia
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or in botany, a large genus of plants from which the order Euphorbiaceae takes its name. It includes more than 600 species and is of almost world-wide distribution. It is represented in Britain by the spurges - small, generally smooth, herbaceous plants with simple leaves and inconspicuous flowers arranged in small cup-like heads (cyathia) . The cyathium is a characteristic feature of the genus, and consists of a number of male flowers, each reduced to a single stamen, surrounding a central female flower which consists only of a stalked pistil; the group of flowers is enveloped in a cup formed by the union of four or five bracts, the upper part of which bears thick, conspicuous, gland-like structures, which in exotic species are often brilliantly coloured, giving the cyathium the appearance of a single flower. Another characteristic is the presence of a milky juice, or latex, in the tissues of the plant. In one section of the genus the plants resemble cacti, having a thick succulent stem and branches with the leaves either very small or completely reduced to a small wart-like excrescence, with which is generally associated a tuft of spines (a reduced shoot). These occur in the warmer parts of the world as a type of dry country or desert vegetation. The only species of note are E. fulgens and E. jacquiniaeflora, for the warm greenhouse; E. Cyparissias (the Cypress spurge), E. Wulfeni, E. Lathyris and E. Myrsinites, for the open air.
These files are public domain.
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Euphorbia'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/e/euphorbia.html. 1910.
