498 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Earwigs continued. 



used effectively. In all cases, the traps must be frequently 

 examined, and the enemy shaken out into a vessel con- 

 taining boiKng water. 



EBENACE.2E. A natural order of trees or shrubs, 

 containing about six genera and some 250 species, natives, 

 for the most part, of warm regions. Flowers hermaphro- 

 dite, or staminate and pistillate ; calyx three to seven- 

 cleft, persistent; corolla three to seven-cleft. Leaves 

 alternate, rarely opposite, entire, coriaceous, exstipnlate. 

 Some of the trees of this order furnish valuable timber, 

 the heart-wood of several species consti- 

 tuting the ebony of commerce. The best- 

 known genera are : Diospyros, Euclea, Maba, 

 Royena, and Tetraclis. 



EBENUS (from ebenos, ebony). OBD. 

 Leguminosce. A genus of about eight species 

 of elegant little herbs or sub-shrubs, chiefly 

 confined to the Mediterranean region and 

 Asia Minor, though one species is found as 

 far east as Beloochistan. Flowers pink, in 

 dense spikes or round heads; peduncles 

 axillary or terminal. Leaves usually un- 

 equally pinnate, made up of three to five 

 pairs of lance-shaped leaflets, though in a 

 few they are digitate or simple. For culture, &o., see 

 Anthyllis. 



E. erotica (Cretan), fl. reddish or purple, in ovate-cylindrical 

 spikes ; staminiferous tube elegantly striated. June, July. I. 

 rarely trifoliolate, usually impari-pinnate, with two pairs of 

 leaflets and an odd sessile one; leaflets oblong-linear; stipules 

 connected, and therefore bifld at the apex and opposite the 

 leaves, h. 1ft. to 2ft. Candia, 1737. Shrubby species. SYN. 

 Anthyllis crelica. (B. M. 1092.) 

 E. plnnata (pinnate). A synonym of E. Sibthorpii. 



Eccremocarpns continued. 



E. longlflorus (long-flowered).* /., corolla yellow, with a green 

 limb, tubular, a little arched ; peduncles pendulous, opposite the 

 leaves, many-flowered. July. I. opposite, abruptly bi-tripinnate ; 

 leaflets oval, entire, sessile. Peru, 1825. 



E. Sibthorpii (Sibthorp's).* fl. in spher 

 purplish, about equal in length to the calyx ; 

 broad, ovate, appearing like an in ' 

 of flowers. I. impari-pinnate, wil 



iherical spikes; corolla 

 VUD uuyx ; bracts three or four, 

 volucre at the base of each head 



part-pinnate, with four or five pairs of oblong- 

 linear, mucronate leaflets; stipules distinct, acuminate, bifid. 

 Stem clothed with adpressed pubescence. Mounts Atlas and 

 Parnassus. Herbaceous. SYN. E. pinnata. (S. F. G. 740.) 



EBERMAIERA (named in honour of Karl Heinrich 

 Ebermaier, 1767-1825, a German writer on medicinal 

 plants). OBD. Acanthaceae. A genus of about thirty 

 species of stove herbs, widely distributed throughout 

 the tropical regions of both hemispheres. They require 

 similar treatment to Eranthemnm (which see). 



E. nitida (shining), fl. white. I. glossy, convex, h. 4in. Brazil, 

 1879. A curious little plant, resembling Fittonia in habit. SYN. 



Chamceranthemum nitidum. 



EBONY. See Diospyros Ebenus. 



EBRACTEATE. Without bracts. 



ECBALLIUM (from ekballein, to oast out ; the seeds 

 are violently ejected from the ripe fruit). Squirting 

 Cucumber. OBD. Cucurbitacece. A hardy annual. For 

 cultivation, see Gourds. 



E. Elaterium (squirting). /. yellow, on erect bracteate pe- 

 duncles. June. fr. green, expelling the seeds when ripe. I. 

 cordate, somewhat lobed, crenate-toothed, on long petioles. 

 Stems dwarf, without tendrils. Mediterranean region, 1548. 

 Plant scabrous, hispid, and glaucescent ; trailer. The drug 

 known as Elaterium (a powerful cathartic) is procured from 

 this plant. SYN. ifomordica Elaterium. (B. M. 1914.) 



ECCREMOCARPUS (from ekkremes, pendent, and 

 fcarpos, fruit; in allusion to the fruit). OBD. Bignoniacece. 

 A genus of elegant half-hardy evergreen climbers. Flowers 

 yellow, red, or golden, tubular, divided into five equal 

 lobes. Leaves opposite, bipinnatisect, terminating in a 

 branched tendril. Stem shrubby. E. scaber is a very 

 popular plant, and proves perfectly hardy in sheltered 

 situations, in the southern counties ; also in more northern 

 ones, when the winters are not exceptionally severe. 

 They thrive in any light fertile soil. Seeds may be 

 sown in March, in a gentle heat, and flowers will be 

 produced during the latter part of the same year. 



OCARPUS SCABER in Flower and Fruit. 



(rough).* fl., corolla scarlet or deep orange-red, with 



a ventricose throat; racemes opposite the leaves, pedunculate, 

 secund, many-flowered. July, August. I. opposite, petiolate, 

 abruptly bipinnate ; leaflets alternate, obliquely cordate, ovate, 

 serrated or entire. Stems angular, hairy. Chili, 1824. A useful 

 plant for covering walls, trellises, and pillars. SYN. Calampelis 

 scabra. See Fig. 686. (B. B. 939.) 



ECHARDIA. A synonym of Peristeria. 



ECHEVERIA. Included under Cotyledon. 



FIG. 687. ECHINACEA PURPUREA INTERMEDIA, showing Habit 



and single Flower-head. 



ECHIDNITJM (from echidnion, a young viper ; in allu- 

 sion to its relationship to Dracontium). OBD. Arar.ece. 

 A genus of a couple of species of stove tuberous-rooted 

 perennials, included under Dracontium by Bentham and 

 Hooker. For culture, see Anchomanes 



