EMB 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



BMP 



491 



near Croydon ; llipton woods, Huntingdonshire ; and Stoken- 

 church woods, Oxfordshire. 



6. Elytnus Tener; Pliant Elymus. Spike pendulous; 

 florets double; culm two feet high, smooth and even, with 

 red joints. Native of Siberia. 



7. Elymus Virginicus ; Virginian Lyme Grass. Spike 

 erect ; spikelets three-flowered ; involucre streaked. The 

 spike is larger than that of a common ear of barley. Peren- 

 lial, and a native of Virginia. 



8. Elymus Europeans ; Wood Lyme Grass, or Barley Grass. 

 Spike upright; spikelets two-flowered, equal to the involucre; 

 culm upright, stout, two feet high and more, having four or 

 five joints. The leaf at each of these is about a span in 

 length, and a quarter of an inch or more in breadth, smooth 

 to appearance, but roundish to the touch, especially round 

 the edges; sheaths hairy. Native of Germany and Switzer- 

 land ; and found on calcareous soils in woods near Berkham- 

 stead, in Hertfordshire ; Marlow and Hambleton, in Bucking- 

 hamshire ; Henley and Stokenchurch, in Oxfordshire; Ripton 

 woods, in Huntingdonshire ; on rocks opposite to Matlock 

 Baths ; and frequently in the north. It is a coarse Grass, 

 like most of those which grow in woods, and is sometimes, 

 like them, drawn up to a great height. Perennial, and flow- 

 ering in June. 



9. Elymus Caput Medusee ; Portugal Lyme Grass. Spike- 

 lets two-flowered; involucres bristle-form, spreading very 

 much; culm narrow, a foot high; spike oblong; partial 

 involucres four-leaved, spreading very much, or reflex, the 

 length of the florets with their awns. Annual ; flowering in 

 July ; and a native of the coasts of Spain and Portugal. 



10. Elymus Hystrix; Rotiyh Lyme Grass. Spike upright; 

 spikelets without involucre, spreading. Annual ; flowering 

 in England in July and August. Native of the Levant. 



11. Elymus Giganteus. Spike erect, close; spikelets in 

 sixes, six-flowered, villose ; calices awl-shaped, smooth, 

 longer than the spikelets ; culm the thickness of the middle 

 finger; leaves involute, strict. Native country unknown. 



Embothrium ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Mo- 

 nogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: none. Corolla: 

 petals four, linear, oblique, with the tip broader, roundish, 

 concave, staniiniferous, after fecundation re-volute. Stamina: 

 filamenta four, very short, on each petal one or none; au- 

 therse oblong, within the cavity of the petal, largish. Pis- 

 til: gennen linear, ascending, inflex; style none; stigma 

 roundish, plain in front, behind concave, large. Pericarp: 

 follicle round, one-celled. Seeds : four or five, ovate, com- 

 pressed, with a winged membrane on one edge. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: four-petalled. Anthers: ses- 

 sile, sitting on the tips of the petals. Follicle: round. 



The species are, 



1. Embothrium Umbellatum. Umbels axillary, very sim- 

 ple, peduncled; leaves oblong, veinless; antherte sessile. 

 This is a handsome shrub, with small red flowers in solitary 

 umbels. Native of New Caledonia. 



2. Embothrium Coccineum. Thyrses terminating, sessile; 

 antherse pedicelled ; leaves obovate, veined, or oblong-ovate, 

 ending in a cusp. The whole of this plant is smooth ; stem 

 shrubby; leaves scattered, having one nerve branching on 

 both sides, on short petioles, dilated at the base, and reddish ; 

 buds red, with lanceolate reflex scales ; flowers in spikes, 

 terminating; corolla scarlet, tubular, incurved, with an an- 

 thera lying in the broad end of each of the four petals ; seeds 

 in the follicle imbricate, with a sharp wing. Found in Terra 

 del Fuego by Forster, and in the straits of Magellan by Com- 

 merson, who named it Ixora. The common name is Catas. 

 Several other species have been observed in Peru and Chili. 



3. Embothrium Speciosissimum. This magnificent shrub 

 is a native of New Holland ; it grows to the height of eight 

 or ten feet, with several simple, wandlike, round branches, 

 clothed with numerous, large, alternate, bright green leaves, 

 from four to six inches long, obovate, and blunt, but tipped 

 with a small point; they are more or less serrated on the 

 sides. The flowers grow in a very dense simple head on the 

 top of each branch, and the head is surrounded at the base 

 with numerous lanceolate leaves, or rather bractes, constitut- 

 ing the involucre, which, like the flowers themselves, are of a 

 rich sanguine red. 



4. Embothrium Silaifolium. The stems, which are several, 

 grow three or four feet high or more, are upright, and alter- 

 nately branched, and have alternate leaves, which in shape 

 resemble those of the Peusedanum Silaus; the upper and 

 lower leaves are, however, more simple : the flowers stand in 

 a long, loose, terminal spike, and are white, with the tips of 

 the pet'als revolute. Native of New Holland. 



Empetrum; a genus of the class Dioecia, order Triandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix: perianth three- 

 parted; divisions ovate, permanent. Corolla: petals three, 

 ovate-oblong, narrower at the base, larger than the calix, 

 withering. Stamina: filamenta three, capillary, very long, 

 hanging forwards ; antheree upright, short, two-parted. Fe- 

 male. Calix: perianth as in the male. Pistil: germen su- 

 perior, depressed ; style scarcely any ; stigmas nine, reflex, 

 expanding. Pericarp: berry orbiculate, depressed, one- 

 celled, larger than the calix. Seeds : nine, jointedly placed 

 in a circle, on one side bulging, on the other cornered. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. . Calix : three-parted. Co- 

 rolla : three-petalled. Stamina : long. Female. Calix : 

 three-parted. Corolla: three-petalled. Styles: three to nine. 

 Berry : three to nine. These little shrubs are seldom propa- 

 gated in gardens, unless for variety sake; but they may be 

 cultivated in shady places, and will thrive well in a stifF soil. 

 These plants should be procured from places where they grow 

 naturally, for the seeds remain a year in the ground before 

 they vegetate, and are very slow in their growth. If they 

 a're planted on a moist boggy soil in autumn, they will get 

 root in the winter, and will require no farther care than to 

 clear them from the weeds;, for these low shrubs commonly 

 grow upon the tops of wild mountains, where the soil is 

 peaty, and full of bogs. The species are, 



1. Empetrum Album; White-berried Heath. Erect: berry 

 guarded at the base by the calix, fleshy, white, shining; 

 seeds two or three, seldom more, bony, on one side convex 

 and obscurely furrowed, on the other angular or Hattish. 

 Native of Portugal. 



2. Empetrum Nigrum ; Black-berried Heath, Crow or 

 Crake-berry. This is a small decumbent shrub. The outer 

 bark is deciduous, and of a brown colour, the inner yellow ; 

 branches rough with the remains of the petioles. The termi- 

 nating bud consists of five membranaceous leaflets, hairy at 

 the edge; this puts forth five little branches, of which four 

 are in a whorl. The leaves are in fours, they are somewhat 

 three-cornered, with a white linear keel, and petioled ; flowers 

 axillary, sessile, solitary, surrounded by a bracte resembling 

 an outward three-parted calix ; calix whitish; petals purple; 

 filamenta very long, and purple, with brownish black an- 

 therac. The female is like the male, but the stem is redder ; 

 the leaves deep green, in fives; pistil black ; berries brownish- 

 black when ripe. Native of the northern parts of Europe, 

 generally in elevated situations, both on dry, barren, and 

 moorish or boggy soils. It is found in the moors, from the 

 Baltic to the Eastern Ocean, in Kamtschatka, and the 

 American isles. The mountains of Lapland, and the mines 



