ELA 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



ELA 



487 



scales underneath, unequal, about an inch in length ; petioles 

 capillary, a line in length ; flowers many, peduncled from a 

 bud among the leaves ; peduncles capillary, loose, silvery, 

 an inch long; calix club-shaped, oblong. Native of Japan. 



6. Eteagnus Umbellata; Umbelled Oleaster. Leaves obo- 

 vate, obtuse ; flowers axillary, aggregate ; peduncles shorter 

 than the flower. Stem shrubby ; branches and branciilets 

 alternate, round, upright, ferruginous, brownish, scabrous 

 with dots ; leaves from alternate buds, many, petioled, patu- 

 lous, rather naked above, with silvery dots, underneath sil- 

 vered all over, half an inch in length ; petioles capillary, 

 scarcely a line long; flowers many, from a bud among the 

 leaves, in a kind of umbel, peduncled, drooping; peduncles 

 capillary, nodding, scarcely a line in length ; calix ovate. 

 Native of Japan. 



7. Eteagnus Olabra; Smooth-leaved Oleaster. Leaves 

 ovate-oblong, acuminate; flowers axillary, subsolitary. Stem 

 arborescent; branches roundish, almost naked, brown; 

 branchlets angular, reddish, ash-coloured, scabrous with 

 dots, alternate, from erect patulous ; leaves alternate, pe- 

 tioled, entire, from spreading erect, above green, smooth, 

 underneath reddish, scaly, with ferruginous dots interspersed, 

 an inch and a half in length ; petioles semicylindric, chan- 

 nelled above, half an inch long; flowers axillary, solitary, 

 and in pairs, peduncled, upright; peduncles shorter than the 

 flower, capillary. Native of Japan. 



8. Elseagnus Maerophylla ; Silver-leaved Oleaster. Leaves 

 rounded-ovate, silvery. This is an upright thornless tree; 

 branches round, streaked, tubercled, with the deciduous 

 branchlets ash-coloured, scabrous with dots, upright; branch- 

 lets angular, alternate, like the branches ; leaves alternate, 

 petioled, entire, from erect patulous, above smooth, green, 

 beneath silvery, an inch in length ; petioles semicylindric, 

 above channelled, upright, half an inch long ; flowers axil- 

 lary, aggregate, peduncled, almost upright ; peduncles four 

 or more, the length of the flower. Native of Japan. 



9. Eteagnus Pungens ; Prickly Oleaster. Branchlets 

 becoming thorns ; leaves oblong, waved ; flowers axillary, 

 in pairs. This is an upright tree a fathom in height, with a 

 brown scabrous bark; branches round like the trunk, flexuose, 

 leafless, spreading, branchlets alternate like the branches, 

 leafy, stiff, spinescent at the end ; leaves alternate, petioled, 

 somewhat obtuse, entire, above smooth, green, beneath sil- 

 very, with scales interspersed with ferruginous dots, from re- 

 flex spreading, an inch long, stiff; petiole half an inch in 

 length ; flowers in the axils of the leaves, about two, distinct, 

 upright; pedicels shorter than the flower. Native of Japan. 



10. Eteagnus Argentea. Unarmed : leaves undulated, 

 oval-oblong, smooth on both sides, and covered with silvery 

 scales : flowers aggregate, nodding ; berry large, subglobose, 

 covered with silvery scales. This shrub, 8 to 12 feet high, 

 is found on the banks of the Missouri, and at Hudson's Bay. 



Elceis ; a genus of the class Dicecia, order Hexandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix: perianth six- 

 leaved; leaflets concave, upright. Corolla: one-petalled, 

 six-cleft, upright, sharp, length of the calix. Stamina : fila- 

 menta six, subulate, length of the corolla ; antherse oblong- 

 sharp. Female. Calix : as in the male, (according to Gsert- 

 ner, nine-leaved, with the inner leaflets longer.) Corolla : six- 

 petalled. Pistil: germen ovate; style thickish ; stigmas 

 three, reflex. Pericarp : drupe fibrous, ovate, somewhat 

 angulated, oily, (superior, berried, one-celled, accoiding to 

 Goertner.) Seed: nut ovate, obscurely three-sided, with 

 three holes, three-valved, one-colled. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Male. Calix: six-leaved. Corolla: six-cleft. Sta- 

 mina: six. Female. Calix : six-leaved. Corolla: six-petalled. 



Stigmas three. Drupe fibrous. Nut one to three valved. 

 The only species known and fully described is, 



1. Eteis Guineensis. Leaflets long, narrow, and not so 

 stiff' as most of the Palms. The footstalks of the leaves are 

 broad at their base, where they embrace the stem, diminish 

 gradually upwards, and are armed with strong, blunt, yellow- 

 ish thorns, which are largest at their base. The flowers come 

 out among the leaves at the top of the stem ; some bunches 

 having only male flowers, others only female, the latter of 

 which are succeeded by oval berries, bigger than the largest 

 Spanish olives, but of the some shape ; they grow in very 

 large clusters, and are of a yellowish colour when ripe. From 

 this fruit, the inhabitants of the West India islands draw an 

 oil, in the same manner as if it were extracted from olives. 

 They also obtain a liquor from the body of the tree, which, 

 when fermented, has a vinous quality, and will inebriate. 

 The leaves are wrought by negroes into mats, on which they 

 repose. The West Indians call this tree the Oily Palm, and 

 Negro's Oil; the fruit having been first imported from Africa 

 by the negroes. It grows in great plenty on the coast of 

 Guinea, and also in the Cape de Verd Islands, but was not 

 found in any of our American colonies, till carried there by 

 the negroes, who now propagate it in great plenty. The 

 French call it Palmier. Geertner mentions another Eteis, 

 which he names Melanococca, from the blackness of the nuts, 

 but thinks to be probably only a variety of the above. The 

 shell, however, is much smaller, and not so much bellied, 

 but rather oblong, and suddenly contracted at the tip into an 

 oblique dagger-point, it is also thinner, and elegantly varie- 

 gated on the outside with testaceous streaks irregularly con- 

 fluent, and with alternate streaks like the others, but of a 

 coal black ; when broken, it appears of a sooty black colour, 

 and the seed is ovate-oblong, and brown. Jacquin also de- 

 scribes another veiny thorny Palm, which has somewhat of the 

 same habit as the Eteis Guineensis, and is called Giyri in the 

 island of Martinico. The fruit is eatable, of an acid flavour, 

 globular, slightly depressed, acuminate by means of the style, 

 scarlet, and shining. The pulp is small, red, soft, and not 

 fibrous, surrounded by a very thin pellicle. Nut brown, with 

 three obscure holes, from which run lines in a stellate order, 

 like veins, over the whole surface ; kernel cartilaginous and 

 hollow. A Palm occurs also about Carthagena in New Spain, 

 which the natives call Corozo, and make both an oil and a 

 butter of the fruit. The pericarp is shining, and yellow on 

 the outside, supported by a three-leaved calix, and a three- 

 petalled corolla, permanent, and shining. It is but little 

 fibrous, not thick, and contains a pleasant oil. Its form is 

 ovate, obscurely three-cornered. Nut black and shining, of 

 the same form, with three obscure holes at the base; kernel 

 roundish, cartilaginous, very hard, solid, with the fruit 

 slightly cloven. To propagate the species first described, it 

 must be kept constantly in the bark-stove, otherwise it will 

 make no progress. In about twenty years it will be too tall 

 for most of our stoves. It is propagated by seeds ; for the 

 sowing and management of which, see Cocos and Phoenix. 



Elceocarpus ; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, spreading, permanent, five-parted; leaflets linear- 

 lanceolate, concave, sharp. Corolla : petals five, with claws, 

 multifid, laciniate, the extreme jags capillary, equal, scarcely 

 longer than the calix, inserted at the base of the nectary 

 Stamina: filamenta twenty to thirty, capillary, very slender, 

 short, inserted into the nectary; antherae snorter than the 

 corolla, upright, linear, scabrous, two-valved at the tip; 

 valves spreading, with about five ciliate hairs, very slender, 

 from reflex expanding, unequal. Pistil: germen somewhat 



