into a very short petiole, cuneate or oblanceolate, usually acute or mucronate. Involucres yellowish, in small, compact, shortly pedunculate, dichotomous cymes from the sinus between the nodes ; lobes large, erect, roundish, cordate, fimbriate. Styles connate, high up, undivided ; stigmas capitate. Capsule about ½in. broad, deeply 3-lobed. Cocci compressed, glabrous.
Uses :— The root enjoys repute as a remedy in snake bites, but there is no reliable evidence of its utility in these cases. The expressed juice of the leaves is reported to prove very effectual in relieving the paroxysms of spasmodic asthma. (Ph. Ind.)
In Hindu medicine, the milky juice is considered purgative and rubefacient. As a purgative it is generally used in combination with other medicines which are steeped in it. Chebulic myrobalan, long pepper, tivrit root, etc., are thus treated and administered as drastic purgatives in ascites, anasarca and tympanites. It enters into the composition of several compound prescriptions of a drastic character (Dutt). " The juice is employed in ear-ache and, mixed with soot, in ophthalmia as an anjan" (T. N. Ghose, in Watt's Die).
Hemaglutinins (rabbit blood) were found in 26 of 47 Types of Euphorbia examined. The agglutinating action on different bloods (pigeon, rabbit, guinea pig, rat, sheep, goat) differed. The active substance of Euphorbia neriifolia is fairly resistant to boiling. When hemaglutinins are contained in the vegetative parts of the plant they can be absent from the seeds and vice versa. (Ch. Abs. 10th Jan. 1913 p. 104.)
1118. E. nivulia, Lam., h.f.b.l, v. 255.
Syn. :— E. neriifolia, Roxb. 392.
Vern. :— Thohar (H.); Shij (B.) ; Newran (Mar.) ; Ellaculli (Mal.) ; Elakullie (Tam.) ; Akoo-jemoodoo (Tel.)
Habitat:— N.-W. Himalaya; on dry rocky hills. Guzerat, the Deccan Peninsula and Sindh.
A large shrub or tree, 20-25ft. Branches in whorls of four, fleshy, nearly cylindric, with vertically or spirally arranged tubercles, each supporting a pair of stipular prickles. Leafless in cold and dry season. Leaves alternate, 6- 12in. long, ovate- oblong or linear ; tip rounded ; midrib much elevated beneath ;
