528 



ELEUSINE 



ELSHOLTZIA 



'59 Winter bud of 



Elodea. Nit size 



wide, obtuse at the apex: spikes broad, 2-t, digitate, 

 l-lJ/2 in, long; spilielets closely imbricate, 5-fld.— Int. 

 into Amer. on ballast, and in cult, as an ornamental 

 plant. p. B. Kennedy. 



ELEUTHER0C6CCUS (Greeli, eleuiheros, free, and 

 kokk-ox, lierncl; tlie seeds are easily detached from 

 the rtesh). AraliAcf(w. Ornamental hardy shrubs, with 

 numerous erect, spiny stems, rather 

 large, digitate Ivs., inconspicuous 

 greenish fls., and black berries in 

 umbels. They prefer a somewhat 

 moist and rich soil, and are wtU 

 adapted as single specimens on the 

 lawn or in borders of shrubberies 

 for the handsome bright green foil 

 age. Prop, by seeds and root-cut 

 tings. Three species in E. Asia 

 with alternate, long-petioled, digi 

 tate Ivs. : fls. small, greenish, polj g 

 amous-dicecious, 5-merous, pedi 

 celled, in terminal, peduncled uni 

 bels: berry roundish oval, black, 

 >ihining, 5-seeded. 



Bentiodsus, Maxim. Shrub, to I'l 

 ft., the brandies densely covered 

 with slender spines: Ifts. 5, rarely 

 3, oblong, usually narrowed at the 

 base, acute, sharply and doubly ser 

 rate, sparingly hispid above, with 

 bristly hairs on the veins beneath, 

 4-6 in. long: fr. about % in. high. .luly. N. China. Gt. 

 12:.393. Alfred Rehdeb. 



ELIOT, JARED, author of the first American book on 

 agriculture, was lnjru November 7. 1085. and died April 

 22, 17li::. He was the grandson of John Eliot, the "apos- 

 tle o£ the ludiaus," and was pastor at Killingworth, 

 Conn., from October 26, 1709, until his death. He was a 

 botanist, and the leading consulting physician in New 

 England. He introduced the mulberry tree into Con- 

 necticut, wrote an essay upon the silkworm, and dis- 

 covered a process of extracting iron from fernigineous 

 sands. His "Essays upon Field-Husbandry," begun in 

 1748, formed the first American book devoted exclu- 

 sively to agriculture. It is now extremely rare. He was 

 a high-minded, progressive and useful citizen. Many 

 of his sermons were separately reprinted. Jared Eliot 

 and Samuel Deane were among the few agricultural 

 writers of note in the period before American horticul- 

 ture was considered distinct from agriculture. \y jj; 



ELLI6TTIA (after Stephen Elliott, South Carolina's 

 early and excellent botanist. For a fine portrait and 

 sketch of him, see G.P. 7:204-206). Ericclcew. A genus 

 allied to Rhododendron and Ledum, with three species, 

 of which the most interesting is an extremely rare na- 

 tive southern shrub, with delicate white flowers, an 

 inch in diameter, composed of 4 slender petals, and 

 borne in racemes 6-10 in. long. John Saul once adver- 

 tised it, and P. J. Berckmans, of Augusta, Ga., still culti- 

 vates it. The two Asiatic species are inferior in size 

 and beauty of flowers. Important generic characters 

 which distiinguish this genus from Leiophyllum and 

 Cladothamnus are : flowers terminal, racemose; petals 

 3-5, entire: anthers 4-10, opening by irregular cracks: 

 ovary 3-5-celled. 



racemdsa, Muhl. Shrub, 4-10 ft. high, branches slen- 

 der: Ivs. alternate, oblong, acute at both ends, glandu- 

 lar-mucronate, entire, thin, membranous, .3-4 in. long, 

 1-lK in. wide; petioles slender, grooved, hairy, about 1 

 in. long: calyx lobes 4, short, rounded; stamens 8 : fr. 

 unknown. Wet, sandy woods of S. C. and Ga. G.F. 7; 

 205. W. M. 



The plants formerly offered by John Saul were incor- 

 rectly named, and lie refunded whatever amount had 

 been charged for all plants sold by him. They proved 

 to be Styrax grandiflora. The only plants now known 

 to exist are a few specimens collected by the writer, in 

 company with Dr. Asa Gray in 1873, in a patch in 

 Columbia county, Ga., which covered an area of about 



3 acres. This was afterwards cleared, and not a vestige 

 of EUiottia remains. A small patch is said to exist in 

 Edgefield county, S. C, near the city of Augusta, Ga., 

 but all my efforts to find it have failed. 



The only i>laiits which the writer has ever been able to 

 propagate caiiu' from suckers. A few of these were sent 

 to the Arnold Arbon-tum and to Kcw Gardens. No seed 

 has ever been produced upon our specimens, which are 

 now 15 feet high. p. j. Berckmans. 



ELM. See Ulmus. 



ELODfiA (Greek, marshy). HydrocharidiiceK. This 

 .,'enus contains perhaps 9 species of aquatic herbs, in- 

 ludin.; the Ditch-moss, an interesting hardy perennial 

 I 1 Hit f"uiid in slow streams and ponds nearly through- 

 iit \ irtli America, except the extreme north. It is 

 lititn uhirly desirable for home and school aquaria. It 

 IS a slender, wholly submerged plant, with branching 

 stems 4 in. to 3 ft. long, according to the depth of the 

 water The pistillate fls. are raised to the surface by 

 thtir long calyx tubes, and float there. The minute 

 stiuiiiiate fis., which are rarely seen, commonly break 

 < tt Ih low, rise to the surface, float about, open, and 

 shed their pollen. The fruit ripens below the surface, 

 and the seeds rise. This plant is now found abundantly 

 in Europe, being sometimes known in England as 

 "Babmgton's Curse," from the man who introduced it. 

 It reached England in 1841 and choked up many canals 

 and waterways, notably the Cam. It was very abundant 

 m 1852 and 1853, but declined in the next few years. 

 Ducks, gee.se and swans are fond of it, and render great 

 service in getting rid of it. It can be used for manure 

 where it grows in sufficient quantities. Like many other 

 water plants, it makes heavy buds in the fall (Fig. 759), 

 whicli drop to the bottom and grow in the spring. 



Canadensis, Mich. (Andcharis Canadensis, Planch. 

 A. Alsiiiiislritiii, Bab.). Water-weed. Ditch-moss. 

 Water Thyme. Water Pest. Lvs. in whorls of 3 or 4, 

 or the lower ones opposite, linear, minutely toothed or 

 not, 2-7 lines long, 14-2 lines wide : fls. white ; calyx 

 tube of the pistillate fls. 2-12 in. long; spathes 5-7 lines 

 long. B.B. 1:93. w. M. Thicker and W. M. 



ELdDES. See Bypericum. 



ELSHOLTZIA (John Sigismund Elsholtz, author of 

 an unpublished Flora Marcica, the MS. of which is in 

 the Royal Library, Berlin) ZabiAfce. Herbs or under- 

 shrubs, in temperate and tropical Asia, with fls. in 

 spikes : calyx tubular, 5-toothed ; corolla oblique or 2- 

 lipped, the upper lip 4-toothed in the typical species 

 (described below), the lower longer and entire or some- 

 what crenulate ; stamens 4, separated. One is in the 

 Amer. trade. 



760. Blsholtzia cnstata. 



cristS,ta, Willd. Fig. 700. Twelve to 18 in. high, with 

 opposite, petioled, ovate-oblong toothed lvs. and small, 

 light blue fls. in crowded, more or less 1-sided spikes: 

 calyx enlarging in fr. Asia. B.M. 2560. — Hardy annual, 

 with very aromatic foliage and attractive, upright 

 habit. Said to be a good bee plant. L. H. B. 



