ECHIUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. EL^AGNUS. 455 



high, covered with a silvery down, 

 E. ruthenicus having the flowers blue, 

 in round heads. Thrives in ordinary 

 soil. Easily multiplied by division of 

 the tufts, or by cuttings of the roots 

 in spring. It is the -most ornamental 

 of its distinct family, and is highly 

 suitable for grouping with the bolder 

 herbaceous plants. It would also look 

 well when isolated on the turf. E. 

 humilus is a very good kind. 



ECHIUM (Viper's Bugloss] .Hand- 

 some plants of the Forget-me-not 

 order, the finer kinds of which, though 

 superb in the open gardens of S. 

 Europe, are too tender for our gardens. 

 E. plantagineum is one of the hand- 

 somest of the annual or biennial species. 

 Its showy flowers, of rich purplish- 

 violet, are in long slender wreaths that 

 rise erect from a tuft of broad leaves. 

 It is handsomer than our indigenous 

 species, E. pustulatum and E. vulgar e. 

 E. rubrum is a scarce and handsome 

 species, its habit is similar to those 

 above mentioned, but its colour is a 

 reddish- violet, similar to the attractive 

 E. creticum. They are all showy 

 and of the simplest culture. The 

 seeds should be sown in ordinary 

 garden soil, either in spring for the 

 current year's flowering, or late in 

 autumn for flowering in early summer. 

 Our native E. vulgare is good in certain 

 positions ; its long racemes of blue 

 flowers are handsomer than those of 

 the Italian Anchusa. Against a hot 

 wall, where nothing else would grow, 

 Dr Acland, of the Grammar School, 

 Colchester, planted some, and they 

 gave a beautiful bloom. It is valuable 

 for such positions, particularly on hot 

 gravelly or chalky soils. 



Edraianthus. See WAHLENBERGIA. 



Edwardsia. See SOPHORA. 



EL^AGNUS (Oleaster}. Shrubs of 

 much garden value. 



E. ANGUSTIFOLIA, the form which grows 

 wild in S.E. Europe, is the wild Olive of 

 the old Greek authors. The long, silvery- 

 grey fruit is constantly sold in the Con- 

 stantinople markets under the name of 

 " Ighide agaghi," and is sweet and 

 pleasant to the taste, abounding as it 

 does in a dry, mealy, saccharine substance. 

 The general aspect of this form is much 

 more that of a Willow than an Olive, the 

 long lanceolate leaves being greyish above 

 and silvery-white beneath. Best in sandy 

 or warm soil. 



E. ARGENTEA (the Silver Berry or 

 Missouri Silver Tree). Has very fragrant 

 tubular yellow flowers, followed by an 

 abundance of nearly globular, dry, mealy, 

 edibJe fruit. This species gives a charac- 



teristic feature to the vegetation of the 

 Upper Missouri valley, and in a wild state 

 grows 8 or 10 feet in height. The oval 

 leaves are silvery- white. In nearly all 

 British and foreign nurseries this species 

 is confused with the Buffalo Berry 

 (Shepherdia argented), a genus belonging 

 to the same natural order, but altogether 

 different from it. 



E. HORTENSIS. A somewhat variable 

 plant with a wide geographical distribu- 

 tion, is cultivated in many countries for 

 the sake of its fruit. In Dr Aitchison's 

 Botany of the Afghan Delimitation Com- 

 mission it is described as a shrub or tree 

 occurring at an elevation of 3000 feet and 

 upwards, near running streams, and cul- 

 tivated largely in orchards for its fruit. 



E. LONGIPES. Prof. Sargent thus writes 

 of it in Garden and Forest : " The plant 

 may well be grown for the beauty of its 

 fruit alone, which, moreover, is juicy and 

 edible, with a sharp, rather pungent, agree- 

 able flavour. Both the size and the 

 flavour can doubtless be improved by 

 careful selection, and it is quite within the 

 range of possibility that it may become a 

 highly esteemed and popular dessert and 

 culinary fruit. To some persons, even in 

 its present state, the flavour is far prefer- 

 able to that of the Currant or the Goose- 

 berry." The fruit, as implied by the 

 specific name, is borne on long stalks ; it 

 is bright red in colour and covered with 

 minute white dots. The branches are 

 covered with rusty brown scales, and the 

 somewhat leathery leaves are dark green 

 above and silvery-white beneath. 



E. MACROPHYLLA, an evergreen species 

 from China and Japan, has large roundish 

 leaves, greyish above and silvery beneath. 

 It is quite distinct in appearance from any 

 other hardy shrub, and is a very fine 

 silvery evergreen, distinct in effect. 



E. PUNGENS, E. GLABRA, and E. REFLEXA 



are beautiful evergreens, which are not 

 very dissimilar in general aspect, and 

 which without long dry scientific descrip- 

 tions it would be impossible to distinguish. 

 Variegated forms exist of all three, and 

 any of them, as well as the types, are 

 well worthy of a place in the pleasure- 

 ground. They are all natives of Japan, 

 etc., but do not appear to be quite as 

 hardy as the species previously mentioned ; 

 all could be tried, however, with every 

 prospect of success in the southern coun- 

 ties. Some of them in the south of 

 Europe assume a somewhat climbing habit, 

 and round the N. Italian lakes, for 

 example, grow up to the tops of high Fir 

 and Pine trees. 



E. UMBELLATA is a beautiful shrub. 

 The leaves are deep green and glabrous on 

 the upper surface ; in a young state earlier 

 in the season they are silvery-grey, and 

 silvery- white beneath. The creamy- white 

 flowers are produced in the greatest pro- 



