305. Euphorbia.
305. EUPHORBIA.—There are a number of species of this genus yielding medicinal products:
305a. EUPHORBIA COROLLATA Linné.—LARGE FLOWERING SPURGE. (Root.) Long, branched; externally purplish-black, wrinkled; internally whitish or yellowish. The medical virtues reside in the very thick, internally whitish bark, which constitutes about two-thirds of the whole root. Inodorous; taste sweetish, somewhat bitter and acrid. Emetic in doses of 10 to 20 gr. (0.6 to 1.3 Gm.); diaphoretic, expectorant, and cathartic in smaller doses.
305b. EUPHORBIA IPECACUANHA.—IPECACUANHA SPURGE. (Root.) Has medical properties similar to the above. It is of a light brown color externally, with a thick bark inclosing a yellowish or whitish wood. The action of these two drugs is due to a resinous matter. Both are indigenous.
305c. EUPHORBIA PILULIFERA Linné, N.F.—A common herb along the roadsides in Australia, where it enjoys a great reputation for the prompt and complete relief it gives in asthma and pectoral complaints generally. Dose: 15 to 60 gr. (1 to 4 Gm.).
306. EUPHORBIUM.—EUPHORBIUM. A gum-resin exuding from one or more undetermined species of Euphorbia, ascribed to some leafless, cactus-like plants of Egypt, Arabia, and the East Indies. It occurs in dull brownish-yellow or reddish, rounded pieces of the size of a pea or larger, often pierced with, or inclosing, the spines around which it has hardened on the stem of the plant; almost inodorous, the powder sternutatory; taste mild at first, but afterward intensely acrid and burning. Only used externally, mostly in veterinary practice as a vesicant.
307. ALVELOZ MILK.—The milky juice of a Brazilian plant, Euphor'bia heterodox'a Müller. It has an action resembling that of papain, and is used in eating out cancerous and other ulcers.
