Euphorbia Canariensis

This plant grows in abundance in the Canary Islands and Teneriffe, in dry, rocky districts, where little else can grow, and where it attains a height of 10 feet, with the branches spreading 15 or 20 feet. It is one of the kinds that



furnish the drug known as _Euphorbium_. The milky juice exudes from incisions made in the branches, and is so acrid that it excoriates the hand when applied to it. As it hardens it falls down in small lumps, and those who collect it are obliged to tie cloths over their mouths and nostrils to exclude the small, dusty particles, as they produce incessant sneezing. As a medicine its action is violent, and it is now rarely employed. There are a vast number of species of _Euphorbia_, varying exceedingly in their general appearance, but all of them having a milky juice which contains active properties. Many of them can scarcely be distinguished from cactuses so far as relates to external appearances, but the milky exudation following a puncture determines their true character. _E. grandidens_ is a tall-growing, branching species, and attains a height of 30 feet. The natives of India use the juice of _E. antiquorum_, when diluted, as a purgative. The juice of _E. heptagona_ and other African species is employed to poison arrows; the juice of _E. cotinifolia_ is used for the same purpose in Brazil. The roots of _E. gerardiana_ and _E. pithyusa_ are emetic, while _E. thymifolia_ and _E. hypericifolia_ possess astringent and aromatic properties. The poisonous principle which pervades these plants is more or less dissipated by heat. The juice of _E. cattimandoo_ furnishes caoutchouc of a very good quality, which, however, becomes brittle, although soaking in hot water renders it again pliable. _E. phosphorea_ derives the name from the fact of its sap emitting a phosphorescent light, on warm nights, in the Brazilian forests.

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