ERYCINA. 



617 



IRYCIXA. 



ERY'NGIUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 I'mlellifenr, and the tribe Saniculte. It has a calyx of five leafy 

 teeth, the petals erect, oblong, with a long inflexed point ; the fruit 

 obovate, covered with chaffy scales without ridges or vittae. The 

 species are usually perennial spiny herbs, with the flowers congregated 

 into oblong or roundish dense heads. 



E. maritinntm, Sea-Holly, has the radical leaves roundish, plaited, 

 spurious stalked, the upper leaves embracing the stem, palmatoly 

 lobed ; the leaves of the involucre 3-lobed, spurious, longer than the 

 heads ; the scales of the receptacle 3-lobed. The stem is more than 

 a foot in height, and is branched and leafy. It is a native of Europe 

 on the sands of the sea-shore, and is found on the European and 

 African shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is abundant on the 

 eastern shores of England, and is found in Scotland and Ireland. 

 The plant is called in England Sea-Eryngo, Sea-Hulver, and Sea- 

 Holme. According to Linnaeus the flowering shoots are very good 

 when boiled and eaten like asparagus. The leaves are sweetish, with 

 a warm aromatic flavour. The root also is sweet to the taste, and 

 has an aromatic smell. It has been used in medicine as a tonic, and 

 Boerhaave regarded it as a valuable aperient and diuretic. The root 

 is also supposed to possess aphrodisiac virtues. It is candied, and 

 sold in the shops of London as a sweetmeat. There is still an 

 establishment at Colchester, in Essex, where the roots are candied, 

 in which town this preparation was first made, more than two 

 centuries since, by Robert Buxton, an apothecary. It is not now 

 much used by medical men, but at one time it had a reputation in 

 many diseases. 



. canptttrc has the radical leaves two or three times pinnatifid, 

 gpinous, stalked ; the stem-leaves embracing the stem, bi-pinnatifid ; 

 the leaves of the involucre lanceolate, spinous, longer than the heads ; 

 the scales of the receptacle undivided. It is a more bushy and 

 slender plant than the last. It grows on waste ground and in dry 

 sandy fields, and is a very common plant in the south of Europe. It 

 is found in England and Scotland, but is a rare plant. There is a plant 

 found on the banks of the Tyne called E. campatre, but Mr. Babington 

 thinks this may be a different species. The plant which Ray describes 

 as growing on the shore, called Friar's Goose, below Melling, in 

 Yorkshire, Mr. Babington thinks requires further examination, before 

 determining the claim of this plant to be considered a true native of 

 Great Britain. 



E. ftetulum has the radical leaves lanceolate, bluntieh, narrowed at 

 the base, spinous ; the floral leaves palmate, sessile ; the leaves of the 

 involucre lanceolate, much longer than the heads ; the palea among 

 the flowers entire. It is a native of Jamaica, Guyana, Demerara, 

 Florida, and Brazil, in fields and woods. The negroes and poorer 

 whites in Jamaica regard this plant as a valuable remedy in 

 hysterical fit* ; hence it is called in the West Indies Fit- Weed. 

 It is admistered in the form of a decoction or infusion of the whole 

 plant 



E. a/jaiillcum, Rattle-Snake-Weed, has the leaves broadly linear, 

 with parallel nerves ; the lower leaves ensiform ; the floral leaves 

 lanceolate, toothed; the leaves of the involucre shorter than the 

 heads of flowers ; the stems dichotomous. It is a native of North 

 America, from Pennsylvania to Virginia. It is also found in the 

 Society Islands, California, and Buenos Ayres. It inhabits marshes, 

 inundate! pastures, and the banks of rivers. This plant is employed 

 in North America as an application to the bite of the rattle-snake ; 

 hence its common name. 



Nearly 100 species of this genus have been described. They are 

 found in greatest numbers in America, but many are inhabitants of 

 Asia, Africa, and Europe. They are most of them handsome and 

 ornamental plants, and worthy of cultivation. They will grow freely 

 hi any common garden soil, but the lighter or more sandy the soil the 

 better they will grow. Some of the species require the greenhouse or 

 frame, and they should be grown in pots. They may be propagated 

 by dividing the roots, or by sowing the seed. 



(Don, Dichtanydcoiu Planti; Babington, Manual of Britith Botany; 

 Lindley, Flora Medico.) 



E'RYON, Desmarest's name for a Macrouroiis Crustacean only 

 known in a fossil state. 



External antenna; short (one-eighth of the total length of the body 

 including the tail), setaceous, provided at their base with a rather 

 Urge scale, which is ovoid and strongly notched on the internal side ; 

 intermediate antennae setaceous, bifid, much shorter than the external 

 ones, and having their filaments equal. Feet of the first pair nearly 

 as long as the body, slender, linear, not spinous, terminated by very 

 long and narrow chelae, with fingers little bent, but slightly inflected 

 inwards ; carpus short ; feet of the other pairs also slender, and those 

 of the second and third pairs terminated with pincers, like the feet of 

 the crawfishes (dcrevisaes). Carapace very much depressed, wide, 

 nearly square, but little advanced anteriorly, profoundly notched on 

 its latero anterior borders. Abdomen rather short, formed of six 

 articulations, of which the four intermediate ones have their lateral 

 borders prolonged in angles, well detached, as in the crawfishes. 

 Caudal fin formed of five pieces, of which the two lateral are entire, 

 rather large, a little rounded on the internal side, and the three 

 middle ones triangular and elongated, especially the intermediate one. 



ERYSIMUM. 



It is found in the lithographic limestone of Pappeuheim and 

 Aichtedt in the margraviate of Anspach. (Desmarest.) 



M. Desmarest observes that this genus is entirely anomalous, and 

 ought in a natural classification to form a section by itself. According 

 to the method of Dr. Leach it would belong : 1st, to the order 

 Macroura; 2nd, to the second section, which includes those Jfacroura 

 which are provided with a caudal flabelliform fin ; 3rd, to the sub- 

 section B, which have the peduncles of the internal antennas 

 moderately elongated; 4th, to the fifth division, which have the 

 natatory blades of the extremity of the tail formed of a single piece, 

 the second articulation of the abdomen ribt dilated, and rounded 

 anteriorly and posteriorly on each side : and, finally, feet to the 

 number of ten. 



M. Desmarest goes on to say that it is to the CaMianaaa:, the 

 ThdUarina, the Gebiae, and the Azii, that Eryon bears relation. 

 Nevertheless it has not, he observes, the habit of any of them. Its 

 short depressed carapace, and its little elongated abdomen, approxi- 

 mate it to Seyllariu, but its internal antenna; with short peduncles, 

 its external setaceous antennae, and its greater anterior didactylous 

 feet, widely separate it from that genus. It cannot be confounded 

 with Palinurui, which has the external antennae and the peduncles 

 of the internal ones so long, and whose feet are all monodactylous ; 

 and, finally, it cannot be referred to the crawfishes or lobsters (Aitncus), 

 whose shell is differently formed, and which have the external natatory 

 blades of the tail composed of two pieces ; but Desmarest thinks that 

 it is to the last-named genus that Eryon most approximates, taking 

 into consideration its general character. He regrets that he has not 

 been able to satisfy himself whether the four antenna: are inserted on 

 the same horizontal line or not, a fact which would have assisted him 

 in his comparison with other genera. 



E. Curieri. Carapace finely granulated above, marked by two 

 deep and narrow notches on the two latero-anterior borders, and 

 finely crenulated on the latero-posterior borders. Length 4 to 5 

 inches, French. 



Eryon Ctivieri, 



The fossil was noticed by Riohter, Knorr, and others, before 

 M. Desmarest, as indeed he states. 



ERY'SIMUM (from Ipfo, to draw), a genus of Plants belonging to 

 the natural order Crucifera, and to the tribe Sitymbrecc. It has a 

 tetragonal pod, the valves prominently keeled with one longitudinal 

 nerve, the stigma obtuse, entire or slightly emarginate, the seeds in 

 a single row, the funiculus filiform. The species are annual, biennial 

 or perennial herbs, with variable leaves, and elongated, termina 

 many-flowered racemes. 



E. AUiaria of Linnaeus, Smith, Schkuhr, and others, is generally 

 now admitted as the type of a new genus, AUiaria of Adanson. It 

 differs from Eryeimv.ni in not having its valves keeled with a single 

 nerve, but having 3 longitudinal nerves, and in the seeds being 

 striated, and the funiculus flattened and winged. E. Attiaria is the 

 A. ojKcinalit of Andrzeijowski, who is followed by De Candolle in his 

 ' Prodromus,' and Babmgtpn in his ' Manual.' Koch however follow a 

 Scopoli, and places it in Sisymtrium as S. A liiaria ; from which genus 

 it differs only in its flattened winged funiculus. It has heart-shaped 

 leaves, the lower ones being reniform and coarse, repando-crenate ; 

 the pods are erect and patent, much longer than their stalks, and 

 the seeds are oblong and cylindrical. The stem is erect, one to two 

 feet high, and slightly branched. The flowers are white. It is a 

 native all over Europe, under hedges and in ditches. It has a strong 

 smell, and a taste not unlike garlic, for which it is frequently used as 

 a substitute, whence it has obtained its Latin name AUiaria, from 

 'alii i u ii,' garlic. It is very generally used by the poor people of the 

 countries in which it grows as a condiment, with bread and butter, 

 salted meats, or in salads. In England it is known by the name of 

 Sauce Alone, and Jack by the Hedge. In German it has several 

 names, as Das Knoblauchkraut, Der Knoblauchhederich, Lauchel 



