484 



E C L 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



E D G 



white hairs, pressed close, and placed on minute tubercles, 

 the lower ones longer, the upper ones more dispersed. The 

 lower leaves from two to three inches long, crowded, linear, 

 ciliate below, gradually widening towards the top, dilated at 

 the base, embracing, obtuse, hoary on both sides, with close 

 short hairs placed on minute dots ; the upper ones an inch 

 long, and recurved. Spike terminating, pointing one way, 

 hoary-haired; bractes ovate-lanceolate, obtuse; corolla vil- 

 lose on the outside; stamina longer than the corolla. 

 Native of Egypt. 



18. Echium Setosum ; Hoary Viper's Bugloss. Leaves 

 linear-lanceolate; stem suffruticose, procumbent, both hispid 

 and hoary; spike terminating, solitary; flowers at firslfcrowd- 

 ed, but afterwards more remote ; bractes ovate ; corolla half 

 an inch in diameter, hoary ; stamina longer than the corolla ; 

 nuts small, ovate, acuminate, muricate. 



19. Echium Glabrum; Smooth Vipers Bugloss. Leaves 

 linear-lanceolate, smooth above, callous-dotted beneath on 

 '.he outside; spikes alternate; branches scattered, a little 

 compressed at top, purplish ash-coloured, with very slender 

 appressed villose hairs; leaves sessile, firm, an inch long, 

 even; spikes from the upper axils, erect, few-flowered, two 

 inches long; bractes ovate-lanceolate, the length of the calix ; 

 calices hairy, with lanceolate segments, the same length wilh 

 the tube of the corolla; stamina longer than the corolla. 

 Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



20. Echium Rosmarinifolium ; Rosemary Viper's Bugloss. 

 Leaves petioled, linear-lanceolate, reflex at the edge, hairy 

 underneath, and hoary; branches round, scarred, hoary with 

 the hairs ; petiole very short ; raceme terminating, short ; leaf- 

 lets of the calix linear, hairy; corolla almost regular, half as 

 long again as the calix. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



21. Echium Spbcerocephalum ; Round-headed Viper's Bu- 

 gloss. Leaves linear-lanceolate, strigose ; heads solitary, ter- 

 minating, globular, hairy, on short peduncles, with small 

 flowers that are almost regular, and having stamina longer 

 than the corolla; branches smooth. Native of the Cape. 



Eclipta ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Polyga- 

 mia Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: common 

 many-leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, nearly equal, in a double 

 series. Corolla: compound rayed; of the ray most plenti- 

 ful, female; of the disk hermaphrodite: proper of the her- 

 maphrodite tubular, four-cleft, upright, outwardly mealy; in 

 the females very narrow, ligulate.. Stamina : in the herma- 

 phrodites; filamenta four, very short; antherse cylindric. 

 Pistil: in the hermaphrodites; germen oblong; style mid- 

 dling; stigma two-cleft, spreading. Pericarp: calix un- 

 changed. Seed: in the hermaphrodites, oblong, compressed, 

 notched, obtuse, unarmed ; in the females, three-sided, ob- 

 long, notched, obtuse, unarmed. Receptacle: flattish, chaffy; 

 chaffs very narrow. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Receptacle: 

 chaffy. Down: none; corollets of the disk four-cleft. 

 These plants are all propagated by seeds, sown upon a hot- 

 bed in the spring; when they are fit to remove, they should 

 be transplanted into a fresh hot-bed to bring them forward ; 

 they must be shaded till they have taken new root, and then 

 treated as other tender annuals, being careful not to draw 

 them up too weak. In June they may be taken up with 

 balls of earth, and being planted in pots, are to be set in a 

 stove, where they must remain, and be shaded and watered, 

 in order to flower well. The species are, 



1. Eclipta Erecta; Upright Eclipta. Stem erect; leaves 

 d.-flected at the base, and sessile; peduncles alternate, usu- 

 ally in pairs, longer than the leaves, one-flowered ; flowers 

 white ; calix of five or six leaves ; scales broad-lanceolate, 

 the two larger somewhat hispid; flowers discoid; of the disk 



numerous, four-cleft, minute; of the ray very many, minute; 

 seeds angular, thickish, naked, without any down ; recepta- 

 cle naked, not chaffy. Native of the West Indies, and of 

 the East Indies, Cochin-china, &c. Loureiro says, that in 

 Cochin-china the leaves are not nerved, nor properly serrate, 

 nor sessile ; and that the flowers are not in pairs : he adds, 

 that the juice is used for dyeing the hair both of men and 

 quadrupeds, whence the natives call it Ink-plant. It flowers 

 from July to September; and is an annual plant, although 

 Linneus has marked it as biennial. 



2. Eclipta Punctata ; Dotted- stalked Eclipta. Stem erect, 

 a foot and a half high, dotted; leaves flat; peduncles one- 

 flowered, subterminating; flowers whitish, having no smell. 

 The whole plant produces a green watery sap, which becom- 

 ing black when exposed to the air, may be used as ink, and 

 if it could be fixed would make a very fine dye. The negroes 

 are said to increase the blackness of their skin by rubbing it 

 with this juice. This resembles the first species ; but the 

 stem has white dots scattered over it. It is annual, and a 

 native of St. Domingo and Martinico. 



3. Eclipta Latifolia ; Ovate-leaved Eclipta. Stem erect, 

 two feet high; leaves ovate, petioled ; root annual; flowers 

 terminating, solitary, on very short white peduncles ; calix 

 close, the length of the flower ; ray of the corolla bhort, with 

 subtrifid petals ; in the disk four florets, which are five or MX 

 cleft; antheiee black ; stigmas recurved ; seeds oblong, sub- 

 trigonal ; receptacle the length ot' the seeds. It (lowers in 

 September and October, and is a native of the East Indies. 



4. Eclipta Prostrata ; Trailing Eclipta.. Stem prostrate ; 

 leaves somewhat waved and petioled. It is often found 

 erect, like the first species, with subsessile flowers, or at h-ast 

 on very short peduncles; the flowers come out alternately in 

 pairs; calix simple; anthene brown; seeds awnless and 

 muricate, in four rows. It is an annual plant. Native of 

 the East Indies, Japan, Cochin-china, and the isle of Tanna 

 in the South Seas. 



5. Eclipta Sessilis; Sessile-leaved Eclipta. Stem erect; 

 leaves slightly embracing, ovate, toothed ; flowers axillary, 

 sessile, discoid. This is an annual plant, and a native of 

 Jamaica. 



Edijings. The best and most durable plant for edgings in 

 a garden, is Box ; which, if well planted and rightly managed, 

 will continue in beauty for many years. The best season for 

 planting it, is either in the autumn or very early in the spring, 

 for if it be planted later, and the season happen to turn out 

 hot and dry, it will be verysubject to miscarry, unless great 

 care be taken to supply it wilh water. The best sort for this 

 purpose is the Dwarf Dutch. Box-edgings are only planted 

 upon the sides of the borders next the walks, and not, as the 

 fashion formerly was, to plant the edgings of flower-beds, or 

 the edges of fruit borders, in the middle of gardens, unless 

 Uiey have gravel walks between them, which makes it neces- 

 sary to keej) the walks clean, by keeping the earth of the bor- 

 ders from washing down into the walks during heavy rains. 

 It was also the custom to plant edgings of divers sorts of 

 aromatic herbs, such as Thyme, Savory, Hyssop, Lavender, 

 Rue, &c. but as these very soon grow woody, and therefore 

 cannot be kept in due compass, and are also often killed in 

 whole patches by hard winters, whereby the edgings are 

 rendered incomplete, they are now seldom used for this pur- 

 pose. Some persons make edgings of Daisies, Thrift, Catch- 

 fly, and other flowering plants ; but these also require to be 

 transplanted every year, in order to have them handsome, 

 for they soon grow out of form, and are subject to decay 

 in patches, so that there is not any plant which so com- 

 pletely answers the design as Dwarf Box. 





