631 



EPIMEDIUM. 



EPIPHYTES. 



attention, as its roots spread very rapidly, and are got rid of with 

 great difficulty. In Kamtchatka the pith of this plant is dried and 

 trailed, and on being fermented is converted into ale and vinegar. 

 The young shoots are said to be eatable, but the matured plant 

 possesses narcotic properties. As this plant is very common in some 

 places, two or three varieties have been observed and described. 



E. hirrutum, Hairy Willow-Herb, or Codlings-and-Cream, has 

 creeping roots ; branched hairy stems ; lower leaves opposite, upper 

 ones alternate, ovato-lanceolate, hairy, toothed, half stem-clasping; 

 stigma 4-cleft, the segments deflexed. This plant is found in wet 

 places in Europe and Siberia. In Great Britain it is a common plant 

 in ditches, on the margins of rivers, amongst reeds and coarse grasses. 

 The whole plant is downy and clammy. It exhales a peculiar acidu- 

 lous scent, which, from its resemblance to that dish, has procured it 

 the name of Codlings-and-Cream. This scent is not unlike that of 

 hot apple-pie. 



The other British species of this genus are E. parvijlorum, 

 E. lanceolatum, E. montanum, E. palugtre, E. varieyatum, E. tetragonnm, 

 E. roseum, E. alainifoliuni, and E. alpinwm. 



Although this genus is numerous, the species offer no great variety 

 of character. None of them possess active medicinal properties, 

 which is a character of the family to which they belong ; nor do they 

 yield secretions which render them available as food for man or beast. 

 All of them are ornamental plants, and may be introduced into gardens. 

 They require little care in their cultivation, as they will grow in any 

 common garden soil, and may be easily propagated by sowing the seed 

 or by dividing the roots. 



EPIME'DIUH, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Derberacea, or Berberidete. It has a calyx of 4 deciduous sepals ; 

 4 petals ; 4 cup-shaped nectaries ; the capsule pod-like, many-seeded. 

 The species are herbs with creeping perennial roots and annual stems. 



E. atpinum, Alpine Barrenwort, has no root-leaves, and the leaves 

 of the stem twice ternate. It is a native of France and other parts 

 of Europe in sub-alpine coppices and woods. It has been found 

 growing in Great Britain in Cumberland and Yorkshire, but Mr. 

 Babington remarks that it has very slender claims to be considered a 

 native of England or Scotland. The flowers are red, with yellow 

 nectaries. The stem is -about four inches high. Its somewhat bitter 

 leaves were formerly regarded as sudorific and alexipharmic. 



E. pinnatum is a native of Persia, and E. hexandrum of the north- 

 west of America. The first species is easily cultivated, and will 

 grow in any common garden soil, and may be propagated by dividing 

 the root. 



(Babington, Manual of British Botany.) 



EPIPACTIS, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Orchidacece or Orchidea, and to the tribe Limodorcce or A rethwea;. 

 It has the perianth patent, the lip interrupted, the basal division 

 concave, the terminal one larger, with two projecting pUtes at its 

 baseabeve; the stigma nearly square; the rostellum short, termi- 

 nated by a globose appendage; the anthers terminal, erect, sessile, 

 2-celled, the cells without septa ; the column short ; the germen 

 (straight on a twisted stalk. There are two species of this genus 

 found wild in Great Britain. 



E. latifolia has ovate clasping leaves, the lower bracts longer than 

 the flowers, the terminal division of the lip entire, with a minute 

 point. Babington observes that there are four or more very different 

 plants included under this species inhabiting various parts of Great 

 Britain. These are : 1. E. latifolia, with the terminal division of 

 the lip roundish, cordate, obtuse, with a small recurved point. 

 2. /.'. media, with the terminal division of the lip triangular-cordate, 

 acute, as long as the lanceolate sepals and petals. 3. E. purpurata, 

 with the terminal division of the lip triangular- cordate, acute, shorter 

 than the ovate-lanceolate sepals and petals. 4. E. oralie, with the 

 terminal division of the lip transversely oval and acute. 



E. paluetrit has lanceolate leaves, bracts shorter than the somewhat 

 drooping flowers, the terminal division of the lip roundish, obtuse, 

 creiiatc, as long as the perianth. It is found in Great Britain in moist 

 places, and is not a rare plant. 



These plants will thrive in the borders on common garden soil, and 

 will also grow in pots with a mixture of loam and peat; they require 

 but little water when not vegetating, and may be propagated by 

 division of the roots. 



(Babington, Manual of British Botany ; Loudon, Encyclopaedia, of 

 Plantt.) 



EPIPHE'GUS (from M, upon, and jnrroi, the beech, because the 

 plant is parasitical on the roots of the beech), a genus of Plants 

 belonging to the natural order Orobanchaccce. It has the sterile 

 flowers perfect, and the fertile flowers imperfect; the calyx short, 

 4-toothed ; the perfect corolla 2-lipped ; the upper h'p emarginate, the 

 lower 3-toothed ; the imperfect corolla slender, 4-toothed, deciduous ; 

 the stamens as long as the corolla ; the filaments smooth ; the anthers 

 2-lobed, acute at the base, valveless, dehiscent in the middle; the 

 stigma capitate, and somewhat emarginate ; the capsule gibbous com- 

 pressed, half 2-valvcd with four diverging placentae. There is but 

 one species, E. Viryiniana. It is found parasitical on the roots of 

 beech-trees in the southern states of the American Union, where it ia 

 called Beech-Drops. It is the Orobanche Viryiniana of Limiicus. It 

 is a smooth ncuhy branching plant, growing from 6 to 18 inches high, 



and clothed with small scales instead of leaves. The corolla is purple 

 streaked with white. The capsule dilates after it opens into the 

 shape of a cup. There is in North America a quack medicine called 

 ' Martin's Cancer Powder,' which consists of equal parts of this plant' 

 and white arsenic. It is said by some writers to have a beneficial 

 effect. (Lindley, Flora Medico, ; Don, Dlchlamydeous Plants.) 



EPIPHLEUM. [BARK.] 



EPIPHYLLOSPERMOUS PLANTS, so called by the old botanists 

 because they bore their seed upon the back of their leaves. They 

 are what have more recently been called Dorsiferous Ferns. [FiLicES.] 



EPIPHYTES are plants found growing upon other vegetables, 

 adhering to their bark, and rooting among the scanty soil that occupies 

 their surface, in which respect they are distiuguished from parasitical 

 plants, which, like Mistletoe and the. various species of Lorant/tus, 

 strike their abortive roots into the wood, and flourish upon the blood 

 of the individual to which they attach themselves. In this sense of 

 the word, Mosses, Lichens, Ferns, and plants of many other families, are 

 Epiphytes ; but as in this country at the present day the word is 

 principally employed with reference to those Orckidacea which grow 

 upon trees, it is to plants of that description that we propose to devote 

 the present article. 



It had long been known, from the reports of travellers, that Orchi- 

 daceous Epiphytes were plants of extremely curious organisation, and 

 that great numbers were also remarkable for the singular beauty and 

 fragrance of their flowers ; but when imported into this country, their 

 habits were found to be so unlike those of other plants, that no 

 gardener could succeed in keeping them even alive for any considerable 

 time, except in a very few instances ; and it was not till about the 

 year 1820 that the real method of managing them successfully began 

 to be understood. About that time Mr. Cattley and Dr. Liudley 

 began to direct their attention to the subject with soma success. 

 Since that peribd the difficulties of cultivating Orchidaceous Plants 

 have been gradually disappearing, and at the present day they may be 

 said to be almost entirely overcome ; so that in the gardens of the 

 Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, of Mr. Bateman at Knypersley, 

 of Lord Fitzwilliam at Wentworth, of Mr. Harrison of Liverpool, and 

 of many other amateurs, they have acquired a beauty quite unknown 

 to them in a wild state. Species which in their native woods yield no 

 more than two or three of their curious blossoms in a cluster have 

 been found to produce from nine to between twenty and thirty, and 

 the whole order has in short been found willing to submit to domes- 

 tication with as much advantage as has ever attended roses, hyacinths, 

 tulips, or dahlias those well-known flowers which we have from time 

 to time reclaimed from their wild habits, and by the arts of cultivation 

 invested with a splendour of appearance that never could have been 

 anticipated from their original appearance in a savage state. Previously 

 to the year 1820 it is doubtful whether any garden in England could 

 at any one time have produced twenty species of these plants, but 

 since that period more than a thousand have been successfully pre- 

 served in the collections of the Messrs. Loddiges, llollisson, Knight, 

 and other nurserymen near London. 



We do not propose in this place to give any botanical account of 

 these curious plants. For such particulars we refer to the article on 

 ORCHIDACE*. Upon the present occasion we shall confine ourselves 

 to an account of their natural habits, and of those methods of culti- 

 vation which appear to have met with so much success. In prepariug 

 the following account, we depend in part upon our own experience, 

 in part upon the information contained in the writings of botanical 

 travellers, and in part upon the useful communications which within 

 the few last years have been made to the current horticultural 

 publications, especially the ' Transactions of the Horticultural Society ' 

 and the ' Gardeners' Chronicle." 



Orchidaceous Epiphytes grow naturally upon trees in the recesses 

 of tropical forests. They establish themselves upon the branches, 

 and either vegetate amidst masses of decayed vegetable and animal 

 matter, or cling by their long succulent grasping roots to the naked 

 branches of trees, from which and the humid atmosphere together 

 they exclusively derive their food. It appears from the testimony of 

 Mr. Henchman that they are never found upon dead erect trees in 

 forests ; but if upon dead wood at all, then only upon fallen trunks, 

 which, from their situation near the ground, are constantly damp. 

 Such situations are however said to be by no means favourable to 

 their growth. They will also flourish upon rocks and stones in hot 

 and damp climates. Mr. W. Harrison of Bio Janeiro is said, by one 

 of the Horticultural Society's collectors who visited him, to have 

 cultivated with the most perfect success above seventy species upon a 

 wall in his garden at Boto Fogo. 



We even see some of them germinate and grow most luxuriantly 

 in damp places, in the stove, upon the sides of the garden-pots, and 

 among gravel ; some genera, such as Brasavola, are even reported to 

 prefer stones; and Dr. Wallich found them in all cases growing 

 equally well in Nepaul upon trees and stones, provided the latter had 

 a certain quantity of mould and moss adhering to them. In the 

 botanic garden at Calcutta they are said to be cultivated with success 

 in raised beds of solid brickwork, so contrived as to insure a perfect 

 drainage ; the soil being rich vegetable matter mixed with at least 

 two-thirds small pebbles, and covered with a dense layer of moss. A 

 certain quantity of shade seems, in many cases, essential to them, 



