246 EPIPHYLLUM 



Epiphyllum Haw. Cactaceae (in. i). i Brazil, often cult. 

 Epiphyte, a plant which clings to another for support, but is not para- 

 sitic, and is not usu. attached to the soil. Abundant in the wetter 

 trop., esp. S. Am. The group is made up of pi. which possess in 

 common 3 general adaptations: (i) a good seed-dispersal mechanism 

 for wind or birds, (2) a capacity to attach themselves at once to the 

 support on germination, usu. by clasping roots, and (3) fairly well- 

 marked xero. chars, to enable them to stand the droughts to which 

 their situation renders them esp. liable; Aesckynanthus, Araceae, 

 Bromeliaceae, Bulbopkyllum, Clitsia, Columned, Di>chidia, Filices, 

 e.g. Asplenium, Platycerium, Polypodium, &c., Ficus, Hydnophytitm, 

 Marcgravia, Myrmecodia, Oncidin//i, Orchidaceae, Phalaenopsis, 

 Phyllocaclus, Piper, Rhipsalis, Rhododendron, Scitticaria, Tillandsia, 

 Vanilla, &c. See Schimper, Die epiph. Vegetation Amerikas, Jena, 

 1888, and Plant Geography; Goebel, Pfianzenbiol. Schilderungen. 

 Epipogum S. G. Gmel. Orchidaceae (11." 2). i Eur. (incl. Brit.), As., 

 E. aphvllnin Sw. a leafless saprophyte with branched rhiz. and no r. ; 

 endotropic mycorhiza. Fl. as in Epipactis, but without twisting of 

 the recept. 



Epipremnopsis Engl. Araceae (i). i Indomal. 

 Epipremnum Schott. Araceae (n). 15 Indomal. 

 Epiprinus Griff. Euphorbiaceae (A. n. 2). i Further India. 

 EpirrMzantlies Blume = Salomonia Lour. p.p. (Polygal.). 

 Episcia Mart. Gesneriaceae (i). 30 trop. Am., W.I. 

 EpistepMum Kunth. Orchidaceae (n. ). 7 trop. S. Am. 

 Epistylium Sw. = Phyllanthus L. p.p. (Euph.). 

 Epitaberna K. Schum. Rubiaceae (i. 8). Cameroons. 

 Epithema Blume. Gesneriaceae (i). to Indomal., trop. Afr. 

 Epithymum Lunell (Citscuta p.p.). Convolv. (n). 5 W. U.S. 

 Epitrachys C. Koch = Cnicus L. (5A r .) = Cirsium Tourn. (Comp.). 

 Equisetaceae. Pteridophyta (Equisetineae). An order with one sur- 

 viving genus (Equisetum q.v.}, formerly well repres. Many large fossils. 

 Equisetales (Eqnisdineae}. A main division of Pteridophyta (e/.v.), 



containing the single living fain. Equisetaceae. 



Equisetum L. Equisetaceae (only genus). 25 cosmop. ; 9 in Brit. 

 (horsetails), chiefly in swampy places. Perenn. herbs with symppdial 

 rhiz. which send up aerial shoots each year, of one or two kinds; 

 in some sp. the ordinary green shoot bears the repr. spike at the end, 

 while in the others there is a special rt-pr. shoot, usu. appearing early 

 in the year, and often without chlorophyll, the ordinary shoots per- 

 forming assim. work only. The stem is very distinctly jointed, and 

 at the nodes are borne whorls of united 1. closely pressed against the 

 stem, and of little or no use in assim. The branches emerge through 

 the leaf-sheath and thus appear at first sight endogenous; in reality 

 they are exogenous, but formed so much later than the 1. that their 

 points of origin are already covered by the leaf-sheath, and so they 

 are compelled to burrow through it. Stages in this process may easily 

 be observed. The surface of the stem is grooved ; the ridges are 

 occupied by mechanical tissue, whilst the green tissue and stomata 

 are at the base of the furrows. This is a marked xero. structure and 

 is repeated very closely in Casuarina. In several sp. the internodes 



