EPI 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



EQU 



503 



top, but often single; leaves opposite, except the uppermost, 

 on very short petioles uniting at the base, sharp at the end, 

 finely serrate, with unequal teeth, somewhat hooked, smooth 

 on the tipper side, on the under paler, and very slightly hairy ; 

 the downiness is just perceptible on both surfaces, according 

 to Withering, b'.it most underneath. The bottom leaves are 

 often of a bright red colour; calicine leaflets four, lanceolate, 

 with a conspicuous midrib, slightly hairy on the outside, and 

 at the edges ; petals obcordate, deeply emarginate, pale pur- 

 ple, veined with deeper purple lines. It flowers from June 

 to August, is a native of Europe, found in woods and hedges, 

 sometimes in moist meadows, but oi'tener in dry gravelly soils, 

 in courts, neglected walks, upon walls, and also upon old 

 trees, particularly Willows. 



7. Epilobium Tetragonum ; Square-stalked Willow Herb. 

 Leaves lanceolate, toothletted, the bottom ones opposite ; 

 stem four-cornered ; flowers small, purple. One of the most 

 striking characters of this is the apparent squareness of the 

 stalk, which arises from projecting lines running from the 

 leaves down to it ; to this we may add the narrowness of its 

 leaves, the uncommon length of its pods, and its undivided 

 stigma, which was first noticed by Kay. It flowers in July 

 and August. Native of Europe, the East Indies, China, and 

 Cochin-china. It is not uncommon in Great Britain, being 

 generally found in marshes, and by the sides of rivulets and 

 ditches, as in the lane from Newington to Hornsey-wood ; near 

 Bungay, in Suffolk ; and at Alconbnry, in Huntingdonshire. 



8. Epilobium Palustre; Marsh Willow-herb. Leaves oppo- 

 site, lanceolate, quite entire ; petals emarginate; stem erect, 

 six inches high; cnlix a little hairy on the outside; petals red- 

 dish, or pale purple, emarginate, not cloven in the middle; 

 the antheree, when they are shedding their pollen, adhere, 

 firmly to the stigma; stigma thick, club-shaped , yellowish white, 

 slightly cloven at top into four parts; siliques peduncled. 

 Native of Europe, on marshes, bogs, and by the side of lakes. 



9. Epilobium Alpinum ; Alpine Willow-herb. Leaves oppo- 

 site, ovate-lanceolate, quite entire; siliques sessile; stem 

 creeping. This plant is hardly a span high, decumbent at 

 bottom, then upright, and bears one or two flowers at the 

 top. Native of the mountains of Lnpland, Denmark, Switzer- 

 land, Silesia, Savoy, Dauphiny: and in Britain, on Cheviot- 

 hills, near Settle; about Buckbarrow-well ; and many parts of 

 Scotland ; by the sides of rivulets, and in sandy places. 



10. Epilobium Fruticosum. Stem shrubby, very much 

 branched, six feet high ; leaves quite entire, alternate, hirsute ; 

 peduncles one-flowered; flowers superior, yellow; capsule 

 columnar, eight-cornered, crowned with the permanent calix ; 

 seeds not papnotis. Native of Cochin-china. 



11. Epilobium Glabellum. Leaves oblong, toothed, ob- 

 tuse, the bottom ones opposite ; stem roundish, erect. Native 

 of New Zealand. 



12. Epilobium Rotundifolinm. Leaves opposite, roundish, 

 toothletted. Native of New Zealand. 



13. Epilobium Parviflorum. Leaves opposite, lanceolate- 

 serrate, sessile, both they and the stem villose. Native of 

 Germany. 



14 Epilobium Alsinefolium. Stem creeping ; leaves ovate, 

 acute, toothed ; siliques the length of the stem. This is very 

 nearly allied to the ninth species in its size, habit, disposition 

 of the leaves, flowers, and siliques : the flowers are bright red, 

 a little emarginate, and middle-sized ; the siliques are few and 

 small. Both this and the ninth species grow upon the sum- 

 mits of the highest mountains, near the snow, and have their 

 siliques often as long as their stems. 



Epimedium ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Morio- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth four- 



leaved ; leaflets ovate, obtuse, concave, expanding, small, 

 placed directly below the petals, caducous, according to Jus- 

 sieu, with a single bracte at the base of them. Corolla : pe- 

 tals four, ovate, obtuse, concave, expanding ; nectaries ft^ur, 

 cup-form, with obtuse bottoms, of the size of the petals, and 

 leaning on them, affixed by the edge of the mouth to the 

 receptacle. Stamina: filamenta four, subulate, pressing on 

 the style. Antheree oblong, erect, two-celled, two-valved, 

 gaping from the base towards the tip, with a free dissepiment. 

 Pistil: germen oblong; style shorter than the germen, length 

 of the stamina ; stigma simple. Pericarp : silique oblong, 

 acuminate, one-celled, two-valved. Seeds: very many, ob- 

 long. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Nectaries: four, cup- 

 form, leaning on the petals. Corolla: four-petalled. Calix: 

 very caducous; fruit a silique. The only known spe- 

 cies is, 



1. Epimedium Alpinum; Alpine Barrenwort. It has a 

 creeping perennial root ; from which arise many stiff smooth 

 stalks about nine inches high, cylindric, simple, near the root 

 surrounded with scales, at top trichotomous ; leaves once and 

 twice ternate, pendulous, heart-shaped, ending in a point, 

 serrate, the serratures ending in a hair, pale green on the 

 upper side, gray on the under ; flowers drooping with dark 

 red petals, and yellow pellucid nectaries. Native of the Alps 

 and Apennines, also of Japan. It flowers in April and May, 

 and even later in shady places : it is common in English gar- 

 dens. The inhabitants of the northern parts of Europe give 

 a decoction of the herb, in milk, to the females of domestic 

 animals when going after the male ; and they say that it effec- 

 tually quenches those desires which nature excites at that 

 season. Hill says, that a strong decoction of the roots, given 

 to women of robust habits, have been often known to succeed, 

 even in cases which have baffled all the efforts of regular 

 practice. It may be increased by the roots, and succeeds 

 best in the shade, where it must every year be reduced, other- 

 wise it will spread its roots so as to interfere with the neigh- 

 bouring plants. Although it is by no means showy, it de- 

 serves to be admitted into gardens on account of its beauty 

 and singularity. 



Ecfufi^tum ; a genus of the class Cryptosfamia, order Fili- 

 ces. GKNIJR.IC CHARACTER. Fructifications disposed 

 into a long ovate-oblong spike ; each orbiculute, gaping at the 

 base, with several valves, connected by a flat shield-shaped 

 top. Though the genus of the Horse-tails be inhabitants of 

 the water, or at least flourish best where they can lodge their 

 perennial creeping roots in a wet soil, or strong clay which 

 holds the wet, yet they will grow in a garden, especially near 

 water, under a north wall, or in the shade ; they only require 

 to be kept within bounds, as they run much at the root : 

 hence it is better to plant them in pots plunged into the earth 

 than in the open ground. It is very difficult to extirpate 

 them from cultivated lands. Haller says, that he tried in 

 vain to accomplish it by ploughing, dunging, and other me- 

 thods ; and that anyone who published the secret of destroy- 

 ing those unpropitious weeds, so injurious to cattle, would me- 

 rit a considerable reward. Draining the lands infested with 

 it, seems most likely to remove the evil. The species are, 



1. Equisetum Sylvaticum ; Wood Horse-Tail. Stems 

 spiked ; fronds compound. It grows to the height of a foot 

 or eighteen inches, and sometimes reaches to three or four 

 feet; stem slender, scabrous, angular; the angles edged with 

 short spinules, scarcely visible without a microscope; the 

 whorls are hardly an inch asunder; there are twelve or more 

 branchlets, or leaves as some call them, in a whorl, these are 

 very slender, about five inches long, quadrangular, and beset 

 with several other secondary whorls, having five to seven 



