524 



ER Y 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



ER Y 



hemp, and many short scattered prickles. The branches are 

 diffused ; leaves scattered, petioled ; leaflets quite entire, 

 smooth ; flowers of a brown red colour, in a terminating ra- 

 ceme; seeds oblong. Native of Cochin-china, where it is 

 found on the banks of rivers. Mr. Bruce affirms, that the 

 seeds of one species of Erythrina are called carats, and are 

 used in weighing gold and precious stones. Mr. Miller men- 

 tions several other sorts or varieties of this fine genus. One 

 he names Erythrina Inermis, the pods of which are longer, 

 and not more than half so thick as those of the third species ; 

 the seeds of a bright scarlet, longer and slenderer than those of 

 the other sorts ; the leaves small and acute-pointed ; the stalks 

 smooth, and without spines. It does not grow very large, but 

 shoots out into branches at a little distance from the ground ; 

 and these grow erect, so as to form a bushy shrub. The 

 flowers come out at the ends of the branches in short spikes. 

 The wings of the corolla are longer than in the other sorts, 

 and the whole flower is more closed. It is a native of the 

 West India islands. A second sort, Mr. Miller raised from 

 small seeds of a bright scarlet colour, which were sent him 

 from the Cape of Good Hope. The plants had no spines; 

 the leaves were much larger than the other sorts ; their stems 

 were strong, and they had the appearance of growing to large 

 trees. He raised a variety of the second sort, with paler 

 flowers and seeds, and the plants less thorny. Also a variety 

 of the third sort, which he received from the island of Bar- 

 buda, with the flowers and pods very short ; the stamina much 

 longer than the petals ; the pods very short and crooked, but 

 rather thicker than those of the third species; the leaves, 

 stems, and branches, armed with spines. 



Erythronium ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mo- 

 nogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : none. Corolla : 

 petals six, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, alternately incum- 

 bent towards the base, gradually more spreading, from the 

 middle bent backwards. Nectaries: tubercles two, obtuse, 

 callous, growing to each alternate and interior petal near the 

 base. Stamina : filamenta six, subulate, very short ; antherse 

 oblong. Pistil: germen turbinate; style simple, shorter 

 than the corolla, straight; stigma triple, spreading, obtuse. 

 Pericarp : capsule somewhat globose, narrower at the base, 

 three-celled, three-valved. Seeds: very many, ovate, acumi- 

 nate. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: six-petalled, bell- 

 shaped. Nectary : tubercles two, fastened to the base of the 

 alternate petals. 



1. Erythronium Dens Canis; Dog-tooth Violet. Mr. Miller 

 makes two distinct species. The first, with two ovate leaves 

 joined at their base, three inches long, and one inch and a 

 half broad in the middle, gradually lessening towards the 

 ends : these at first embrace each other, enclosing the flower, 

 but afterwards they spread flat upon the ground ; they are 

 spotted with purple and white all over their surface. Be- 

 tween them rises a single, smooth, purple, naked stalk, about 

 four inches high, sustaining one flower which hangs down ; 

 the petals are reflex, and spread open to their base ; their 

 colour is commonly purple, but sometimes white ; stamina 

 purple, standing close about the style, which is longer than 

 them. The roots are white, oblong, and fleshy, shaped like 

 a tooth, whence this plant has the name of Dog's Tooth in 

 English. The game idea has governed the name in all the 

 European languages. The Germans call it hundszalm; the 

 Swedes and Danes, hundetand ; the French, le dent de chien ; 

 the Italians, dente di cane; the Spaniards, diente deperro; the 

 Portuguese, dent de cao ; and the Russians, kandik. The 

 second species differs in the shape of the leaves, which are 

 longer and narrower; and the flowers are a little larger, but 

 not go well coloured. There is also a variety, in which the 



leaves are of a darker green, and the flower of a pale yellow 

 colour. Ray observed the first, with a purple flower, near 

 Turin, in the way to Asti, in April ; and with a white flower, 

 between Novi and Genoa. Clusius found the variety near 

 Gratz in Stiria; and John Bauhin, at La Batie near Geneva, 

 flowering in March. They grow naturally in the south of 

 France, Italy, Savoy, Switzerland, Austria, Friuli, and Siberia. 

 It is increased by offsets from the roots, which they do not 

 send out very plentifully. It is not therefore so common in 

 gardens as most other flowers of the spring season. It may 

 be transplanted any time after the beginning of June, when 

 the leaves decay, till the middle of September ; but the roots 

 should not be often removed, nor kept out of the ground very 

 long, which will cause them to shrink, and frequently to rot, 

 They should not be planted scatteringly in the borders of the 

 flower-garden, but in patches ; and thus disposed, they will 

 make a good appearance. It loves a shady situation, in a 

 light loamy soil. 



Erythroxylon ; a genus of the class Decandria, order Tri- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 five-cleft, turbinate ; divisions ovate, sharp, very small, wither- 

 ing. Corolla: petals five, ovate, concave, expanding ; nec- 

 tary of five scales, emarginate, upright, coloured, inserted 

 into the base of the petals. Stamina: filamenta ten, length 

 of the corolla, at the base connected by a truncated mem- 

 brane; antherse heart-shaped. Pistil: germen ovate; styles 

 three, filiform, distant, length of the stamina; stigmas ob- 

 tuse, thickish. Pericarp: drupe ovate, one-celled. Seed: 

 nut oblong, obtusely quadrangular. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Calix: turbinate. Corolla: petals five, having a 

 small emarginate nectareous scale at their base. Stamina : 



connected at the base; drupe one-celled. The species 



are, 



1. Erythroxylon Areolatum; Dry Redwood. Leaves ob- 

 ovate, mucronate ; branchlets short, floriferous, scaly. Browne 

 describes it as a small beautiful tree ; the leaves of an oval 

 form, and marked with two slender longitudinal lines upon 

 the back, which were the utmost limits of that part of the leaf 

 which was exposed, while it lay in a folded state. The flowers 

 grow in little clusters, white, and fragrant, and are very thick 

 upon the branches. The inward bark is of a flesh colour, and 

 the wood of a reddish brown. It is reckoned an excellent 

 timber wood, for the size of the tree, which seldom exceeds 

 sixteen or eighteen feet in height, and five or six inches in 

 diameter. Native of dry coppices in the West Indies. Dr. 

 Browne has another species, which he calls Small Round- 

 leafed Erythroxylon, or Redwood, with very slender branches. 

 This tree, he says, differs much from the foregoing, both in 

 shape and manner of growth. It grows in the low-lands of 

 Jamaica, like the other, and rises commonly to the height of 

 eighteen or twenty feet; the leaves are roundish and smaller, 

 and the branches very slender. 



2. Erythroxylon Havanense. Leaves elliptic ; flowers axil- 

 lary. This is a shrub, three feet in height, having altogether 

 the habit of the preceding, but the leaves ovate, obtuse, quite 

 entire, without any lines underneath ; fruit orange-coloured. 

 Native of the Havannah, on rocks near the coast. 



3. Erythroxylon Hypericifolium. Leaves obovate, emargi- 

 nate ; branches floriferous ; peduncles axillary, solitary. The 

 branches are covered with a brownish wrinkled dotted bark, 

 compressed at top, and toothletted from the fallen leaves. 

 Scales on the branchlets awl-shaped, and deciduous ; leaves 

 petioled, glaucous underneath; peduncles capillary, nearly the 

 same length with the leaves. Native of the West Indies. 



4. Erythroxylon Squanmtum. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, obtuse ; branchlets scaly, floriferous ; branches 



