EPI 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



EP r 



493 



branches spreading on the ground, and others, which are 

 short and woody, rising and subdivided copiously into rush- 

 like branchJets. The male plant is usually taller, with the 

 aments of the upper joints commonly in pairs, opposite, on a 

 peduncle issuing from one of (he scales. The male aments 

 are ovate, composed of three pairs of scales, decussately im- 

 bricate, somewhat fleshy, concave, rounded, greenish; in the 

 bosom of each scale is a two-valved corolla, somewhat mem- 

 branaceous, putting forth a stamina, standing out beyond the 

 scales, having seven or eight globular yellow antherse in a 

 kind of raceme. Female aments usually solitary, larger, 

 ovate-acute, composed of four pairs of scales, the upper ones 

 gradually smaller. These scales, in a flourishing plant, when 

 ripe become turgid, succulent, and of a beautiful scarlet 

 colour, having two ovate-acute brownish-gray seeds, between 

 the upper and most swelling scales. In dry soils, the scales 

 continue almost the same, jnieeless, yellowish-gray when 

 ripe, with immature fruits, which have usually one seed only, 

 and that barren. It is found in most of the southern parts of 

 the vast Russian dominions : is common from the Volga to the 

 Lena, and southward to Persia and India. The berries ripen 

 in July and August; they are sweetish, mucose, and leave a 

 little heat in the throat. They are eaten by the Russian 

 peasants, and by the wandering hordes of all Great Tartary ; 

 the Calmucs and other Tartars also use them medicinally, in 

 catarrhs, rheumatisms, &c. Native of Siberia. 



2. Ephedra Monostachia ; Small Shrubby Horse-tail. 

 Peduncles several; aments solitary. It flowers from Septem- 

 ber to November, strongly resembles the preceding, and is a 

 native of most parts of Europe. 



Ephielis: a genus of the class Octandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Caltx: perianth one-leafed, 

 five-parted, spreading; segments roundish, acute. Corolla: 

 petals five, having claws, roundish, spreading, emars:inate, 

 with the point, the length of the calix ; nectary of ten scales, 

 a pair to each petal fastened to the base, roundish, villose, 

 smaller than the petals. Stamina : filamenta eight, bristle- 

 shaped, longer than the corolla, inserted into a gland; an- 

 therae four-cornered, roundish. Pisltl : germen ovate, sur- 

 rounded by a gland ; style none ; stigma blunt. Pericarp: 

 capsule oblong, compressed, grooved on both sides, one- 

 celled, two-valved. Seeds: two, kidney-form, fastened to 

 one of the valves in the middle, one above the other. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Cidix: five-parted. Petals: five, 

 with claws. Nectary : te.n scales, two to each petal. Cap- 

 sule: oblong, one-celled, two-valved, two-seeded. The 



only known species is, 



1. Ephielis Guianensis. This tree is fifty or sixty feet 

 high, very much branched at top; the middle branches, or 

 those in the centre, being the highest, and standing perpen- 

 dicularly ; the lower ones are more inclining and horizontal, 

 and spread out to a trreat distance; they divide into many 

 branchlets, furnished with alternate haves, each of which is 

 pinnated; the pinnules opposite, from four to six in number, 

 entire, oval, pointed, of a smooth surface, and of a bright 

 green; these pinnules or leaflets are sometimes eight inches 

 in length. The flowers grow from the bosoms of the leaves, 

 on long pedicels, divided at their extremities into several 

 smaller ones; they are very small, and white. The tree is a 

 native of the forests of Guiana, and flowers in the month of 

 October. 



Epibateriitm ; a genus of the class Monoecia, order Hex- 

 andria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Male Flowers. Calix: 

 perianth double, deciduous; outer six-leaved, very small, flat; 

 inner three-leaved, three times the size of the other, with 

 ovate spreading: leaflets. Corolla: petals six, less thau the 

 VOL. i. 42. 



inner calix, roundish ; three outer interposed between tho 

 ealicine leaflets, three inner. Stamina: filamenta six, capil- 

 lary, bowed inwards, the length of the petals; antherse 

 roundish. Female Flowers, on the same plant. Calix and 

 Corolla: as in the male. Pistil: germiua three, subglobular; 

 styles three, bowed inwards, very small ; stimas compressed, 

 spreading. Pericarp: drupes three, subglubular, mucrouate 

 with the permanent styles. Seed: nut kidney-form, com- 

 pressed, slightly grooved. ESSKXTIAL CHARACTER. Ca- 

 lix : double; outer six-leaved, small ; inner three-leaved, 

 large. Petals : six, three outer, between the ealicine leaflets, 

 three inner. Drupes: three, subglobular, mucronate, with 



three permanent styles enclosing a kidney-form nut. The 



only known species is, 



I. Epibaterium Ptndulum ; native of St. Jago. 



Epidendrum ; a genus of the class Gynandria, order Di- 

 andria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: spathes vague; 

 spadix simple ; perianth none. Corolla: petals five, oblong, 

 extremely long, very spreading; nectary tubular at the base, 

 top-shaped, placed downwards within the petals, with an 

 oblique two-cleft mouth ; the superior lip very short, three- 

 cleft, the inferior lengthened into a point. Stamina : filamenta 

 two, very short, sitting on the pistil ; antheree covered by the 

 upper lip of the nectary. Pistil: germen slender, long, 

 twisted, inferior; style very short, fastened to the upper lip 

 of the nectary ; stigma obscure. Pericarp : silique extremely 

 long, columnar, fleshy. Seeds: numerous, extremely small. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Nectary : turbinate, obliquely 

 reflex. Corolla : spreading. Spur: none. Of the propa- 

 gation of this genus of plants, Mr. Miller remarked, that by 

 any art yet known they cannot be cultivated in the ground ; 

 but if that were possible, many of them would produce very 

 fine flowers of uncommon forms. He informs us, that he 

 had three species sent him from America, which he carefully 

 planted in pots, and placed in a stove, where they just 

 displayed their flowers, and soon after perished. Since Mr. 

 Miller's time, however, many species of this fine and very 

 singular genus have been introduced into our gardens, and 

 some of them cultivated with success, by the superior skill of 

 modern practice, which despairs not of rearing and preserv- 

 ing any plants, where expense is not regarded. It, however, 

 certainly requires great skill and attention, to oveiconi; 

 the united difficulties which attend the cultivation of plants, 

 which are at the same time of the Orchis tribe, and parasiti- 

 cal. Dr. Smith says, We have scarcely seen any one species 

 of this genus, except in a dry state, before the year 1787, 

 when the twenty-fourth species flowered for the first time in 

 the stove at Kevv ; nor was it till October 1788, that the sixty- 

 third species exhibited its fragrant and elegant bloom in the 

 same rich collection. They are all cultivated in the stove, 

 with very great heat: being mostly parasitical, they flourish 

 best with fragments of half-rotten bark at their roots. They 

 may be increased by parting their roots, or what are com- 

 monly called ofi'sets, of which they have in general an abun- 

 dance. The species are, 



* Climbing. 



1. Epidendrum Vanilla; Vanilla, or Vanilloe. Leaves ovate- 

 oblong, nerved, sessile, cauline , tendrils spiral ; stem tr.iiling, 

 somewhat like common ivy, but not so woody, fastening itself 

 to whatever tree grows near it, by small fibres or roots, pro- 

 duced at every joint, by which it may receive nourishment, 

 when cut or broken off from the root a considerable height 

 above ground. The leaves are a? large as iho#e of the Com- 

 mon Laurel, but not quite so thick; they are placed alternately 

 at the joints, which are six or seven inches asunder, and are of 

 a lively green colour above, but paler underneath. The stems 

 6K 



