E 



EARTH-NUT, EARTH-PEA. Little-used names for 

 the peanut, goober or pinder, Arachis hypogsea. The 

 words earth-nut and ground-nut are used for many 

 subterranean tubers, without much discrimination, and 

 therefore they have small value as vernaculars. They 

 may be applied to the underground tubers of Apios 

 tuberosa, Panax trifolium, Erigenia bulbosa, Cyperus 

 esculentus, and others. Earth-apple, earth-gall and 

 similar variants are in use for various plants. 



EATONIA: Sphenopholis. 



EBENUS (Greek name for the ebony). Leguminbsse. 

 About 15 species of silky-hairy herbs or sub-shrubs, of 

 the eastern Medit. region and eastward to Beluchistan, 

 allied to Onobrychis, sometimes planted in borders 

 but apparently not offered in this country. Fls. red- 

 dish or purplish, papilionaceous, in dense axillary long- 

 peduncled spikes; standard obovate or obcordate, 

 narrowed to base; wings short or minute; keel about 

 equaling the standard, the apex obtuse and oblique; 

 calyx-lobes subulate and plumose: pod obovate or 

 oblong, compressed, included in the calyx-tube, inde- 

 hiscent, 1- or 2-seeded: Ivs. odd-pinnate or some of 

 them somewhat digitately 3-foliolate or even simple. 

 E. cretica, Linn., is shrubby with Ivs. usually of 5 

 (sometimes 3) Ifts., and reddish purple fls. in ovate- 

 cylindrical spikes. Crete. B.M. 1092 (as Anthyllis 

 cretica). E Sibthorpii, DC., is herbaceous, with more 

 Ifts., and purplish fls. in spherical spikes. 



This genus has no relation to the ebony, which is of 

 the genus Diospyros (particularly D. Ebenum). 



EBONY: Diospyros Ebenum. 



ECBALLIUM (Greek, to throw out}. CucurUtacex. 

 SQUIRTING CUCUMBER. A perennial trailing vine, 

 easily grown as an annual in any garden, cultivated for 

 its explosive fruits. 



When ripe, the oblong prickly fr. squirts its seeds at 

 the slightest touch, or sometimes at the mere vibration 

 of the ground made by a person walking 

 by. Some of the old herbalists called this 

 plant Cucumis asininus. Another curious 

 fact about the plant is that a powerful 

 cathartic is made from the juice of the fr., 

 which has been known for many centuries. '~*->sT.. 

 A preparation of it is still sold in the 

 drugstores as Trituratio Elaterini. The drug "elaterium" 

 is derived from the juice of the fr. Ecballium has only 

 1 species, and is closely related to the important genera 

 Cucumis and Citrullus. With them it differs from 

 Momordica in lacking the 2 or 3 scales which close the 

 bottom of the calyx. Other generic characters are: 

 prostrate herb, fleshy, rough hairy: Ivs. heart-shaped, 

 more or less 3-lobed: tendrils wanting: fls. yellow, the 

 staminate in racemes, pistillate usually from the same 

 axils with the staminate fls.; calyx 5-cut. It is a native 

 of the middle and eastern Medit. regions, especially in 

 rich moist forests. 



Elaterium, A. Rich (Elaterium cordifolium, Moench. 

 Momordica Elaterium, Linn.). SQUIRTING CUCUMBER. 

 Fig. 1370. Described above; grown in this country as a 

 curiosity. B.M. 1914. WILHELM MILLER. 



ECCREMOCARPUS (Greek, pendent fruit). Big- 

 noniacex. An attractive half-hardy tendril-climber. 

 Shrubs, but grown as annuals in the N., tall climbing: 



Ivs. opposite, 2-parted or -pinnate: fls. yellow, scarlet 

 or orange, mostly racemose; calyx campanulate, 5- 



Earted; corolla-tube elongated; limb more or less 2- 

 pped or in E. scaber small and nearly entire; stamens 

 4, didynamous, included; disk annular: fr. an ovate or 

 elliptic loculicidal 1-celled caps. Three or 4 species 

 of tall somewhat woody plants from Peru and Chile, 

 climbing by branched tendrils at the end of the twice- 

 pinnate Ivs., and having very distinct fls. of somewhat 

 tubular shape, which are colored yellow, orange or 

 scarlet. 



Eccremocarpus has two sections, in one of which the 

 corollas are cylindrical, but in the section Calampelis, 

 to which E. scaber belongs, the corolla has a joint at a 

 short distance beyond the calyx, then swells out on the 

 under side, and suddenly constricts into a neck before 

 it reaches the small circular mouth, surrounded by 

 five very short rounded lobes. 



scaber, Ruiz & Pav. (Calampelis scaber, D. Don). 

 About 10 ft. high: Ivs. bipinnate; Ifts. obliquely cordate, 

 entire or serrate: fls. 1 in. long, orange, in racemes. 

 July, Aug. Chile. B.R. 939. B.M. 6408. Var. coc- 

 cineus, Hort., has scarlet fls. Var. aureus, Hort., has 

 fls. bright golden yellow. Var. carmineus, Hort., has 

 fls. carmine-red. E. scaber is hardy in the southern 

 parts of the U. S., and makes a most attractive peren- 

 nial woody subject. It is also satisfactory in the open 

 in the N. if given a warm exposure, blooming readily 

 from seed the first year. L. H. B.f 



ECHEVERIA (named for Ata- 

 nasio Echeverria, an excellent 

 Mexican botanical draughts- 

 man). Crassuldcese. Stemless or 

 somewhat caulescent succulents. 

 Leaves fleshy, but usually 

 broad and flat, commonly mak- 

 ing dense rosettes: fls. borne in 

 loose spikes or racemes or some- 

 times paniculate, but never in 

 a flat cyme; calyx deeply 5- 

 parted ; sepals usually elongated 

 and narrow, unequal, commonly 

 spreading but sometimes erect; 

 corolla 5-angled, usually strongly 

 so, very broad at base; stigma- 

 lobes united below, very thick 

 and nerveless, erect 

 but often spreading 

 at tip; stamens 10, 

 5 attached near the 

 middle of the petals, 

 the other 5 either 

 free or attached 

 lower down on the 

 corolla: carpels 5, 

 erect; ovules and 

 seeds many. More than 60 species of this genus have 

 been described. Most of them have been in cult, in 

 Washington and at the New York Botanical Garden, 

 although but few are in the trade. It is confined 

 almost entirely to Mex., one species extending into the 

 mountains of W. Texas, and one or two species extend- 

 ing into Cent. Amer. Many of the species are valuable 

 for flat bedding on account of their compact rosettes and 

 highly colored foliage. For cultural notes, see Cotyledon 

 (with which it has been united by many authors). 



1370. Ecballium Elaterium. ( X H) 



(1085) 



