EPI 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



E P I 



495 



high, and grows parasitically on the trunks of vast trees, from 

 which it hangs down towards the ground ; roots thick, fibrous, 

 numerous; stem simple, smooth; leaves two, obtuse, quite 

 entire, shining, veinless, coriaceous, flat, alternate in two rows, 

 half a foot in length, erect like a hare's ears, each arising from 

 an oblong, thick, striated, spongy body, forming the base of 

 the stem ; spike loose, composed of about ten handsome 

 white flowers, four inches in diameter, all pointing one way. 

 Native of Martinico. 



13. Epidendrum Nocturnum. Leaves oblong, veinless; 

 lip of the nectary three-parted, quite entire, the middle seg- 

 ment linear; roots round, thick, filiform, whitish; stem from 

 one to two feet high, simple, erect, round, many-leaved, 

 smooth ; leaves sheathing, alternate, subdisticli, from two 

 to three inches long, oblong, entire, thickish, veinless, shin- 

 ing; flowers terminating, two or three, sessile, large, whitish 

 yellow ; spalhes a few, ovate, compressed ; petals almost 

 equal, lanceolate linear, spreading, the two inner narrower 

 and white ; seeds resembling saw-dust. It smells very sweet 

 during the night; and is a native of the mountain woods in 

 .Martinico and Jamaica, but not very common in the latter. 



14. Epidendrum Cucullatum. Leaves suhulate ; scape 

 one-flowered ; lip of the nectary ovate, ciliate, acuminate ; 

 petals elongated. Native of America. 



15. Epidendrum Teres. Stem sheathed with the rudiment 

 of the leaves, decumbent; leaves columnar, alternate, fleshy, 



. sharp, a finger's length ; roots several, filiform, flexuose, 

 creeping. Native of Japan. 



** Scape naked; Leaves radical. 



16. Epidendrum Nodosum. Leaf single, subradical ; spa- 

 dix containing about four flowers ; roots thick, numerous, 

 filiform, strict, whitish, knee-jointed; stem one-leafed, thick, 

 round, sheathed, a foot high, thickened towards the roots, 

 knotted ; sheaths closed, alternate, closely surrounding the 

 stem, keeled, streaked, membranaceous, whitish ; petals three 

 outer, lanceolate linear, long, spreading, two inner linear: 

 germen very long, round, filiform ; stigma moistened in front 

 under the cavity of the antherse ; capsules an inch long, 

 oblong, pendulous, six-grooved, three-valved, many-seeded ; 

 seeds dusty, bristly. It flowers in the spring, and is a 

 native of the West Indies, where it is usually found near the 

 sea-coast. 



17. Epidendrum Carinatum. Leaves oblong, obtuse, com- 

 pressed, jointed. Native of this Philippine islands, growing 

 upon trees. 



18. Epidendrum Aloifolium ; Aloe-leaved Vanilla. Leaves 

 oblong, obtuse, broader at the end ; root thick, fungous, 

 crinite, knobbed, parasitical ; leaves several from the knob 

 of the root, from two to three feet long, and two fingers' 

 broad, smooth, shining, brownish green, thick ; flowering- 

 stems several, undivided, round, green, shining; three of the 

 petals are narrow, oblong, a fine red colour within, with 

 white edges, on the outside white and green, in streaks, with 

 a tinge of red ; nectary yellow, with red lines. It grows on 

 different trees. Native of Malabar. 



19. Epidendrum Guttatum. Leaves lanceolate, channelled; 

 petals wedge-shaped, retuse. From a matted root this sends 

 out several leaves three inches long, and not a quarter of an 

 inch broad, almost triangular, and of a yellowish green 

 colour; from the midst of these comes the flowering-stalk; 

 each flower is made up of four little white petals, spotted 

 with brown, and one large one with fewer spots, on which is 

 a small yellow hood, and opposite to it one like it of a blue 

 colour, on pedicels an inch long, round the top of the stalk. 

 Native of Jamaica, where it grows on the Ebony trees. 



'20. Epidendrum Juncifolium. Leaves subulate, furrowed ; 



scape and petuls dotted ; lips without dots, dilated. Native 

 of America. 



21. Epidendrum Scriptum. Leaves ovate-oblong, three- 

 nerved; flowers racemed, spotted. Native of the East Indies. 



22. Epidendrum Retusum. Leaves linear, retuse at the 

 end, in two rows ; flowers racemed, spotted. It is three feet 

 in height; root white, woody, bent in, curled, fixing itself 

 into the bark of trees by its capillary hairy fibres; stem rising 

 between two rows of leaves, simple, shining, smooth, marked 

 with rings ; the leaves which come out from the top of the 

 stem, and, when dry, constitute the stem itself, are oblong, 

 narrow, equally tliick and broad on every side, folded toge- 

 ther, smooth, shining, without any visible veins or nerves; 

 flowering-branches ten or twelve together, rising straight 

 from among the leaves, green, rigid, accompanied at the base 

 by abundance of very minute whitish buds, gradually enlarg- 

 ing, but not opening till they have acquired a considerable 

 size ; all the flowers opening together invert the stem, and 

 resemble a fox's tail ; they are on whitish peduncles, issuing 

 from a small acute bracte, stiff, thick, oblong, irregular, 

 whitish, spotted with red, blue, and lucid colours. Native of 

 Malabar, where it flowers in April and October, the flowers 

 continuing two months ; and a branch set in water will flower 

 for a month. 



23. Epidendrura Amabile. Leaves broad-lanceolate, vein- 

 less, like Crinum or Squills, fleshy, half a foot long; petals 

 lateral, orbiculate; roots thick, like packthread; stem two 

 feet high, naked, surrounded by a few acute very short 

 scales ; flowers snow-white, like those of Orchis Susannse, the 

 size of Narcissus flowers ; the two side-petals are orbiculate, 

 the three others arc ovate ; cowl three-leaved, the two side 

 ones long, the middle hastate, bifid, with two awl-shaped, 

 bristled. Osbeck observed it in the East Indies. Rumphius 

 also saw it growing on the branches of trees on the coast of 

 Java. The flowers are large and odoriferous : when laid in 

 a room, they do not wither for several days, and fill it with 

 a most agreeable perfume. On the island of Ternate, none 

 but princesses are allowed to wear this precious flower. 



24. Epidendrum Cochleatum. Leaves oblong, double, 

 smooth, streaked, growing on the bulb, involved in membra- 

 naceons sheaths ; scape many-flowered ; nectary cordate ; 

 roots filiform, strict, whitish ; flowers terminating, four or five, 

 large, subsessile ; petals linear, acuminate, reflex, yellowish : 

 nectary lip heart-shaped, blunt, concave, dark blood-red, 

 streaked with white at the base, yellow at the tip. It flowers 

 here in January and February, and is a native of the moun- 

 tainous parts of Jamaica. This is the first of the tribe that 

 ever flowered in England. It is cultivated in a stove, in rotten 

 bark, contrived so as to imitate its natural situation in the 

 clefts of aged trees, with occasional supplies of water. 



25. Epidendrum Tuberosum. Leaves broad-lanceolate, 

 nerved, membranaceous, growing on the bulb; scape sheathed; 

 nectary boat-form, bifid. Native of America. 



26. Epidendrum Pusillum. Leaves ensiform, somewhat 

 fleshy, acute, all radical ; scape few-flowered, between each 

 of the leaves solitary, the length of the leaves, with three or 

 four minute leaflets scattered over them; root fibrous; plants 

 little more than an inch high ; flowers terminating, one or 

 two, from a three-valved glume, the three uppermost petals 

 spreading, oblong, the uppermost very small, the two inner 

 toothed ; lip trifid, the side lobes subcordate, the middle 

 larger, bifid : or, according to Allamand ; petals ovate-oblong, 

 acute; upper lip of the nectary ampullaceous, tubular, etnar- 

 ginate, lower very large, sinuate, with four lobes on each side, 

 opposite, equal; capsule spherical, six-keeled. Observed by 

 Dhalberg in Surinam. 



