E U C 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



EUC 



2T 



Stem herbaceous, upright, hexagonal, brachiate ; leaves three- 

 nerred, subpetioled, serrate, smooth ; racemes two or four at 

 the ends of the stem and branches, brachiate, on the upper 

 side of which are sessile, narrow, yellow flowers, about five 

 together, alternate, and supported by a subulate bracte : 

 seeds oblong 1 , even, with a few streaks. Native of Chili, and 

 the East Indies. 



6. Ethnlia Struchium. Flowers axillary, sessile, all trifid. 

 This plant generally rises to the height of two feet and a half 

 or more ; the leaves alternate, oblong, entire ; the flower- 

 bunches interspersed with a few smaller ones, that rise 

 between the common cups, as they stand compact together 

 at the axils of the leaves : corollets nearly equal, the marginal 

 trifid, the central four-parted; germen oblong, angular, 

 crowned with its proper calix, which has about four little 

 notches; style longer than the corolla; stigmas oblong, revo- 

 lute. Native of Jamaica. 



Eucalyptus; a genus of the class Icosandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth superior, 

 permanent, truncate, covered with an hemispherical deciduous 

 lid before flowering-time. Corolla : none. Stamina : fila- 

 menta thread-shaped, numerous, inserted into the calix ; 

 antherse roundish, two-lobed, small. Pistil: germen infe- 

 rior, turbinate ; style single. Pericarp: capsule four-celled, 

 gaping only at the tip. Seeds: very many, angular, small. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : superior, peimanent, trun- 

 cate, before flowering-time covered with an hemispherical 

 deciduous lid. Corolla: none. Capsule: three or four 



celled, opening at the top, enclosing many seeds. The 



species are, 



1. Eucalyptus Obliqua; Oblique-leaved Eucalyptus. This 

 is a very tall tree, growing to the height of more than a hun- 

 dred feet, and above thirty in circumference ; the bark is 

 smooth like that of the Poplar, and the young branches are 

 long and slender, angulated near the top, but as they grow 

 older the angles disappear. The leaves are alternate, lanceo- 

 late, pointed, very entire, smooth on both sides, and remark- 

 ably unequal or oblique at their base ; the veins are alternate, 

 and not very conspicuous. The whole surface of both sides 

 of the leaves is marked with numerous minute resinous spots, 

 in which an essential oil resides. The footstalks are about 

 half an inch in length, round on the under side, angular 

 above, quite smooth. The flowers have not been fully ex- 

 amined, but the capsules are supposed to grow in clusters, 

 from six to eight each, sessile, and conglomerated ; each is 

 about the size of a hawthorn berry, globular, but as it were 

 cut off at the top, and of a dark brown colour; the seeds 

 numerous, small, and angular. Native of Botany Bay. 



2. Eucalyptus Resinifera ; Red Gum Tree. This tree is 

 much larger than the English Oak ; the wood is brittle, and 

 contains a large quantity of resinous gum ; the flowers grow 

 in little clusters, or rather umbels, about ten in each, and 

 every flower has its proper partial footstalk, about a quarter 

 of an inch in length, besides the general one ; the general 

 footstalk is remarkably compressed, and the partial ones in 

 iome degree ; the flowers are yellowish, and of a singular 

 structure ; the calix is hemispherical, perfectly entire on the 

 margin, and afterwards becomes the capsule : on the top of 

 the calix, rather within the margin, stands a conical pointed 

 ctlyptra, which is of the same colour as the calix, and about 

 as long as that and the calix taken together : this calyptra 

 constitutes the essential mark of the genus. The antherae 

 are small and red, and in the centre is a single style, termi- 

 nated by a blunt stigma; the stamina are very resinous and 

 aromatic. The germen appears, when cut across, to be divided 

 Wto three cells, each containing the rudiments of one or 



more seeds. On making incisions into the trunk of this tree, 

 large quantities of red resinous juice are obtained, sometimes 

 more than sixty gallons from a single tree. When dried, this 

 juice becomes a powerful astringent gum-resin, much resem- 

 bling that known in the shops by the name of kino, and full 

 as efficacious for all medical purposes. Mr. White, the chief 

 surgeon to our settlement at Botany Bay, administered it to 

 a great number of patients in the dysentery, and found it 

 eminently serviceable, never failing in a single instance. This 

 gum-resin dissolves almost entirely in spirit of wine, to which 

 it gives a blood-red tincture ; water dissolves about a sixth 

 part only, and the watery solution is of a bright red ; and 

 both solutions are powerfully astringent. 



Euclea ; a genus of the class Dicecia, order Dodecandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, many times shorter than the corolla, subangular, 

 smooth, five-toothed; teeth very short, upright. Corolla: 

 one-petalled, five-parted; segments ovate, obtuse, concave, 

 patulous. Stamina : filamenta thirteen, very short, eight in 

 the circumference, five in the centre. Antherse four-cornered, 

 subulate, grooved, erect, perforated at the tip on both sides. 

 Female. Calix : perianth one-leafed, four-toothed, (more 

 seldom five-toothed,) permanent; segments erect, three times 

 shorter than the corolla. Corolla: one-petalled, four-cleft; 

 segments ovate, obtuse, concave, erect. Pistils germen 

 ovate, subvillose, superior; styles two, thickish, the length 

 of the corolla; stigmas emarginate, bifid, obtuse. Pericarp : 

 berry globular, umbilicate with a dot, smooth, fleshy, (ac- 

 cording to L'Heritier, a berried capsule, three-horned, three* 

 celled, three-valved ; Linneus says two-celled.) Seeds : single, 

 globular, smooth ; (according to L'Heritier, roundish, arilled, 

 one or two abortive.) ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. 

 Calix: four or five toothed. Corolla: four or five parted. 

 Stamina : twelve or fifteen. Female. Calix and Corolla : as 

 in the male. Germen : superior ; styles two. Berry : two- 

 celled. The species are, 



1. Euclea Racemosa; Round-leaved Euclea. This is at 

 smooth branching shrub : leaves alternate, subpetioled, obo- 

 vate, quite entire, obtuse, smooth ; racemes of flowers from 

 the axils of the upper leaves, simple, nodding, hardly the 

 length of the leaves ; petals snow-white ; fruit red, the size 

 of a pea. It flowers in November and December, and is a 

 native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



2. Euclea Undulata. Leaves ovate, undulated. This 

 resembles the preceding. Its red fruit is eaten by the Hot- 

 tentots, who call the plant Guarri-bosches. Native of the 

 Cape. 



Eucomis ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: none. Corolla: 

 inferior, six-parted, permanent, spreading. Stamina: fila- 

 menta subulate, dilated at the base, and united there into a 

 concave nectary, fastened to the bottom of the corolla. 

 Pistil: germen superior ; stigma simple. Pericarp: capsule 

 three-celled. Seeds: many. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Co- 

 rolla : inferior, six-parted, permanent, spreading. Filamenta : 

 united at the base into a nectary growing into the corolla. 

 The species are, 



1. Eucomis Nana ; Dwarf Eucomis. Scape club-shaped ; 

 leaves broad-lanceolate, acute. It flowers in May, and is a 

 native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



2. Eucomis Regia ; Tongue-leaved Eucomis, or Fritillaria. 

 Scape cylindric ; leaves tongue-shaped, obtuse, close to the 

 ground ; root tuberous, from which arise in the autumn six 

 or eight obtuse leaves, nearly five inches long, and two broad 

 towards the top, growing narrower at their base, crenated on 

 their borders, lying flat on the ground, and continuing all the 



