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49 results
  • Caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyrus. Family: Euphorbiaceae) : Corangil tablets.
  • Caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyrus. Family: Euphorbiaceae) : Corangil tablets.
  • Euphorbia nicaeensis All. Euphorbiaceae. Distribution: North Africa, Southern Europe to Turkey. Root extracts have been shown to have cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory action in experimental situations. Euphorbia species all have toxic sap, and had many names in early literature, eg esula, about which Culpeper (1650) says that '(taken inwardly) are too violent for vulgar use
  • Ricinus communis L. Euphorbiaceae Castor oil plant. Palma Christi. Distribution: Mediterranean, E Africa, India. The seeds themselves are pretty, brown, bean-like usually with gold filigree markings on them, and the interior of the seed is the source of castor oil. The outer coat of the seed is the source of the poison ricin, famous (infamous) for the umbrella murder of Georgi Markov on Waterloo Bridge in 1978. The KGB are alleged to have killed Georgi Markov, a dissident Bulgarian journalist, with a pellet containing 0.28mgm of ricin fired into his leg using a specially adapted air gun in an umbrella. While his symptoms were those of ricin poisoning, no ricin was ever found in the pellet that was extracted from his leg. Two seeds, chewed and ingested are said to be fatal, but most people vomit and get rid of the toxin. Ducks are resistant to ricin, and need to ingest more than 80 to be fatal! In Peru the leaves are used as a tea for stomach ache, although they contain small amounts of ricin. It is called Palma Christi in early herbals because of the five pointed leaves, which schematically represent a hand. It is a monotypic genus in the spurge family. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Ricinus communis L. Euphorbiaceae Castor oil plant. Palma Christi. Distribution: Mediterranean, E Africa, India. The seeds themselves are pretty, brown, bean-like usually with gold filigree markings on them, and the interior of the seed is the source of castor oil. The outer coat of the seed is the source of the poison ricin, famous (infamous) for the umbrella murder of Georgi Markov on Waterloo Bridge in 1978. The KGB are alleged to have killed Georgi Markov, a dissident Bulgarian journalist, with a pellet containing 0.28mgm of ricin fired into his leg using a specially adapted air gun in an umbrella. While his symptoms were those of ricin poisoning, no ricin was ever found in the pellet that was extracted from his leg. Two seeds, chewed and ingested are said to be fatal, but most people vomit and get rid of the toxin. Ducks are resistant to ricin, and need to ingest more than 80 to be fatal! In Peru the leaves are used as a tea for stomach ache, although they contain small amounts of ricin. It is called Palma Christi in early herbals because of the five pointed leaves, which schematically represent a hand. It is a monotypic genus in the spurge family. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Ricinus communis L. Euphorbiaceae Castor oil plant. Palma Christi. Distribution: Mediterranean, E Africa, India. The seeds themselves are pretty, brown, bean-like usually with gold filigree markings on them, and the interior of the seed is the source of castor oil. The outer coat of the seed is the source of the poison ricin, famous (infamous) for the umbrella murder of Georgi Markov on Waterloo Bridge in 1978. The KGB are alleged to have killed Georgi Markov, a dissident Bulgarian journalist, with a pellet containing 0.28mgm of ricin fired into his leg using a specially adapted air gun in an umbrella. While his symptoms were those of ricin poisoning, no ricin was ever found in the pellet that was extracted from his leg. Two seeds, chewed and ingested are said to be fatal, but most people vomit and get rid of the toxin. Ducks are resistant to ricin, and need to ingest more than 80 to be fatal! In Peru the leaves are used as a tea for stomach ache, although they contain small amounts of ricin. It is called Palma Christi in early herbals because of the five pointed leaves, which schematically represent a hand. It is a monotypic genus in the spurge family. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Ricinus communis L. Euphorbiaceae Castor oil plant. Palma Christi. Distribution: Mediterranean, E Africa, India. The seeds themselves are pretty, brown, bean-like usually with gold filigree markings on them, and the interior of the seed is the source of castor oil. The outer coat of the seed is the source of the poison ricin, famous (infamous) for the umbrella murder of Georgi Markov on Waterloo Bridge in 1978. The KGB are alleged to have killed Georgi Markov, a dissident Bulgarian journalist, with a pellet containing 0.28mgm of ricin fired into his leg using a specially adapted air gun in an umbrella. While his symptoms were those of ricin poisoning, no ricin was ever found in the pellet that was extracted from his leg. Two seeds, chewed and ingested are said to be fatal, but most people vomit and get rid of the toxin. Ducks are resistant to ricin, and need to ingest more than 80 to be fatal! In Peru the leaves are used as a tea for stomach ache, although they contain small amounts of ricin. It is called Palma Christi in early herbals because of the five pointed leaves, which schematically represent a hand. It is a monotypic genus in the spurge family. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Euphorbia milii Des Moul. Euphorbiaceae. Crown of Thorns - so called because of its very spiny stems. Distribution: Madagascar. The latex contains a copper-containing amine oxidase, a lectin, lipase, peroxidase, and a diamine oxidase. In vitro the latex is synergistic with ketoconazole against Candida albicans (thrush). All Euphorbia have a toxic white latex, and in Europe this has been used as a folk remedy to treat warts. It can cause skin allergies and the smoke from burning them is toxic. the genus named for Euphorbus (fl. circa 10 BC – 20 AD), the Greek physician to the Berber King Juba II (c. 50 BC – 23 AD) of Numidia, Euphorbia milii is one of the tropical spurges, with fierce, cactus-like spines, grown as a house plant. The sap of spurges is used in folk medicine for treating warts (not very effective), and, historically, as a purgative - the word spurge being derived from the French word for purgation. The sap (probably dried) was administered inside a fig because it is so corrosive that it would otherwise burn the mouth and oesophagus – a technique used today, rather more subtly, with ‘enteric coated’ medications. The sap contains a potential anti-leukaemic chemical, lasiodoplin, and is also used in drainage ditches to kill the snails which carry the parasitic trematode which causes fasciolaris. It does not kill the fish. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Dog's mercury (Mercurialis perennis): flowering plant with roots. Colour nature print by H. Bradbury.
  • A plant (Euphorbia sp.): flowering and fruiting plant with separate rootstock and flower. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1772.
  • Glochidion species: flowering and fruiting stem with separate floral segments. Line engraving by Mackenzie, c.1795.
  • A plant (Euphorbia viridiflora) related to spurge: entire flowering plant with separate flower. Coloured etching after J. Schütz, c.1802.
  • A plant (Euphorbia sp.): flowering plant with separate flower and fruit. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1772.
  • A plant (Euphorbia sp.): flowering and fruiting tree. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1772.
  • A plant (Euphorbia sp.): entire flowering plant with separate fruit and flower. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1772.
  • A plant (Euphorbia helioscopia L.): flowering plant with separate flowers and fruit. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1772.
  • A plant (Euphorbia sp.): flowering plant with separate flower and fruit. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1772.
  • A plant (Euphorbia sp.): entire flowering and fruiting plant. Coloured etching by M. Bouchard, 1772.
  • A plant (Antidesma sylvestris Lam.): large and small branches with flowers and fruit and separate fruit. Coloured line engraving.
  • Four types of spurge (Euphorbia species): two succulent stems and two low-growing plants. Coloured etching by J. Pass, c. 1805, after J. Ihle.
  • A plant (Acalypha paniculata): branch with flowers and fruit, separate flowers and fruit and cross-section of fruit with seed. Coloured line engraving.
  • A plant (Acalypha villosa Jacq.) related to Indian nettle: separate flowering and fruiting stems. Coloured engraving after F. von Scheidl, 1776.
  • Croton (Codiaeum variegatum (L.) Blume): flowering and fruiting branch tip with separate, numbered fruit clusters and single fruit, both whole and sectioned. Chromolithograph by P. Depannemaeker, c.1885, after B. Hoola van Nooten.
  • Fever bark (a species of Croton): branch with flowers and fruit, separate flower, fruit and seeds and sections of fruit. Coloured line engraving.
  • A spurge (Euphorbia species): flowering stem, leaves, roots and floral segments. Coloured engraving after J. Sowerby, 1794.
  • Four flowering plants, all types of spurge (Euphorbia species). Chromolithograph by W. Dickes & co., c. 1855.
  • Wood spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides): flowering stem and floral segments. Coloured engraving after J. Sowerby, 1795.
  • Fever bark (Croton variegatum L.): branch with leaves only. Coloured line engraving.
  • Four flowering plants, all types of spurge (Euphorbia species). Chromolithograph by W. Dickes & co., c. 1855.
  • A double flowered poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima): flowering stem. Chromolithograph, c. 1876.