56o 



EMPETRUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



carries a cluster of fiery flowers. Even 

 •on the favoured Devonshire coast a 

 sharp late frost will sometimes injure the 

 flowers. It thrives near the coast in 

 southern Ireland and in Wicklow at 

 Mr. Acton's, but soon perishes in less 

 favoured places. 



EMPETRUM {Crowberry). — E. ni- 

 ^riun is a smajl evergreen Heath-like 

 bush, of the easiest culture, which maybe 

 associated with the dwarfer rock shrubs. 

 It is a native plant, and the badge of the 

 Scotch clan McLean. There are several 

 ■other varieties, but the plants have less 

 ilower beauty than many other mountain 

 shrublets. 



f^ENKIANTHUS.— ^. campamdatiis is 

 a pretty shrub, native of Northern Japan. 

 It has slender branches covered with a 

 light brown bark, and campanulate flowers 

 produced in a pendulous cluster, and of a 

 pale rosy-red colour, with three darker 

 lines on each of the five sections of the 

 ■corolla. 



E. cernuus. — A little-known species 

 ■only recently introduced from Japan, 

 where it is said to be a bush 6 ft. to 

 S ft. high. The reddish flowers are 

 campanulate, and slightly five-lobed. 

 Syn., Meisteria cernua. 



E. japonicilS. — A rare and desirable 

 shrub, first discovered by Sir Rutherford 

 Alcock near Nagasaki, Japan, in 1859, 

 and afterwards introduced by Messrs. 

 Standish. The leaves turn to a beautiful 

 ■deep orange colour before falling in 

 autumn. The pendent flowers are pure 

 ■white, globose, and contracted to a much 

 narrower mouth than in E. campanu- 

 lattcs. Ericaceae. 



EOMECON {Cyclamett Poppy).-E. 

 chionanthiis is a very charming hardy 

 perennial Poppywort intermediate'between 

 :Stylophorum and Sanguinaria. The root- 

 stocks are usually as thick as the finger ; 

 they run freely underground, and increase 

 rapidly ; leaves resembling those of 

 hardy Cyclamen. The flowers, 2 to 3 in. 

 in diameter, are pure white, with a bunch 

 of yellow anthers in the centre ; several 

 Taorne on stems about i ft. high. It is 

 a native of China. The pure pearly- 

 vi'hite flowers, in a setting of bold yellow- 

 green foliage, give good effect as a 

 " carpet " beneath Tea-roses. 



EPHEDRA. — {Shrubby Horsetail). 

 ■Curious greyish, wiry trailing bushes of 

 Southern Europe and Northern Africa, 

 rare in our gardens, but hardy here and 

 there, as in the Cambridge Botanic 

 ■Gardens, where there is light warm soil. 



All these plants resemble to a certain 

 •extent the Equisetums, and though they 



are leafless, or nearly so, the bright green 

 colour of the bark makes them conspic- 

 uous at all seasons. E. distacJiya\?> a native 

 of the southern part of France and Spain, 

 in sandy soils on the seashore, a yard or 

 more high, forming a 

 spreading mass of bright 

 green cylindrical bran- 

 ches distinct from all 

 hardy shrubs ; the ber- 

 ries, which do not always 

 appear in this country, 

 are red. In the front of 

 the shrubbery, where the 

 slender branches can 

 grow at will, this Ephe- 

 dra IS seen to advantage, 

 breaking up the outline, 

 and it is a good plant for 

 bold arrangements in 

 the rock garden as it 

 will succeed in dry spots. 

 It is also known as E. nebrodensis.- E. 

 vulgaris is a smaller plant and one that 

 will resist more cold as it is a native of 

 Siberia, also some of the more southern 

 districts of Asia. Other species are found 

 in different parts of the world, but the 

 nomenclature of the entire genus is con- 

 fused, and it is probable that the list of 

 names would be reduced if they were 

 grown together, as slight geographical 

 variations would no doubt disappear under 

 cultivation. — T. 



EPIGiEA {Mayflower).— P^ small Ever- 

 green found in sandy soil in the shade of 



Ephedra. 



EpigEca repens (Mayflower). 



Pines in many parts of N. America, E. 

 repens having pretty rose-tinted flowers 



