1104 



EGGPLANT 



EICHHORNIA 



which have fed upon diseased plants and carried the 

 infection to the well ones. The disease works rapidly 

 down the tissues and causes the death of the leaf and 

 finally of the whole plant. The only remedy for this is 

 to destroy all plants that are affected with the disease 

 as soon as detected, and kill off all insects. When this 

 disease is known to be present in a section, it is best to 

 set the plants as far apart as practicable. In this way 

 the danger of infection from insects is somewhat 

 reduced. When the disease is known to be present in a 

 field it should not be planted to this crop. Anthracnose 

 (Gloeosporium melongense) does not cause great damage 

 to this crop, but is one of the agents that reduce the 

 profits. "It may be recognized by its producing decided 

 pits in the fruit, upon which soon appear minute 



1383. Long White eggplant. 



blotches bordered with pink." Bordeaux mixture may 

 be used to good advantage for preventing this disease. 

 Phoma solani frequently causes damping-off in the 

 hotbed. It often renders a whole bed worthless. Plants 

 affected with this fungus usually fall over as if eaten 

 off by some insect. Some plants, however, continue a 

 miserable existence and finally die. ' Careful examina- 

 tion will reveal the point of injury, which is at the 

 ground-level. The best preventive is to use well- 

 drained beds and then avoid excessive watering. When 

 damping-off is detected in a seedling bed, the atmos- 

 phere and surface soil should be dried as rapidly as 

 possible, followed by one application of fungicide. 



Insect enemies. Among the most annoying of the 

 insect enemies is the cutworm (larvae of Noctudise). 

 These insects are almost omnipresent, and when nearly 

 full grown are liable to cut off plants that are 4 or 5 

 inches high. It is not common for one insect to cut off 

 more than a single plant, but in ordinarily fertile soil 

 there are enough cutworms present to destroy the 

 entire field. So that, on the whole, it becomes very 

 annoying. When these insects are quite destructive, it 

 is possible to kill them with poisoned bran or poisoned 



cottonseed meal, sweetened with syrup or sugar. 

 Another insect that does more or less damage is the 

 cotton bollworm (Heliothis armiger). This insect does 

 its damage by boring a hole into the stems or the fruit. 

 In the latter case it causes it to rot before it is picked, 

 or possibly in transit. As the fruit becomes larger there 

 is less danger of attack from this insect, so that the 

 main trouble occurs in the 3arlier stages of its growth. 

 The eggplant aphis (Siphonophora cucurbits) is one of 

 the most annoying pests to this crop. It usually makes 

 its appearance about the time the crop is fit to ship, 

 and appears in such numbers that the plants are ruined 

 in the course of a week or two. The insect attacks the 

 lower surface of the leaves, making it difficult to reach 

 the pests with insecticides, but persistent efforts and a 

 good tobacco decoction, applied with a fine nozzle, 

 will give considerable relief. Sulfur spray or other 

 mild contact insecticide will be found more uniformly 

 effective than tobacco decoction. Whale-oil soap is an 

 excellent insecticide to use. Kerosene emulsion and 

 insecticides made frcm the miscible oils, largely em- 

 ployed in proprietary insecticides, should be avoided. 

 While they may be used effectively, there is consider- 

 able danger from scalding in handling by indifferent 

 laborers. P> H . ROLFS. 



EGLANTINE : Rosa rubiginosa; also applied to Rubus Eglan- 

 teria, Rosa Eglanleria, and perhaps Lonicera Periclymenum. 



EGYPTIAN LOTUS: Nymphxa Lotus; also Nelumbium. 



EHRETIA (G. D. Ehret, botanical painter, born in 

 Germany, 1708 or 1710, died in England 1770). Bor- 

 aginacese. Tender trees and shrubs, found in the 

 warmer regions of the world. 



Plants with or without rough, short hairs: Ivs. alter- 

 nate, entire or dentate: fls. small, often white, in cymes, 

 corymbs, terminal panicles, or rarely all borne in the 

 upper axils; calyx 5-parted or -cleft; corolla short-fun- 

 nelform to rotate, with 5 obtuse spreading lobes; 

 stamens 5, affixed in the tube, exserted or rarely 

 included, the filaments very slender; style 2-lobed or 

 -parted: fr. a small drupe, usually containing two 

 2-celled 2-seeded nutlets. Species 40-50, the larger 

 number in the Old World tropics, but widely dispersed 

 about the globe. A few species are planted in S. Calif, 

 and perhaps elswhere along the southern parts. 



A. Lvs. toothed. 

 B. Foliage hairy. 



macrophylla, Wall. Tree: Ivs. 6-8 in. long, broadly 

 elliptic, acuminate, bristly above and soft-hairy beneath, 

 serrate: panicle terminal, pubescent; calyx cih'ate: fr. 

 globose, obscurely 4-grooved. Himalayas, China. 



BB. Foliage not hairy. 



acuminata, R. Br. (E. serrata, Rqxbg.). HELIO- 

 TROPE TREE. Tree, to 40 ft.: Ivs. 3-^4 in. long, elliptic 

 to oblong, acuminate, serrate: panicles terminal and 

 axillary; fls. clustered, sessile; corolla-tube very short. 

 Trop. Asia, Japan and Austral. B.R. 13:1097. Hardy 

 at Arnold Arboretum. 



AA. Lvs. usually not toothed. 



elliptica, DC. Tree, 15-50 ft. high: Ivs. oval or 

 oblong, sometimes serrate, nearly smooth, or with 

 minute hairs and very rough above: fls. small, white, 

 fragrant, in cymes or panicles; calyx-lobes broad-lanceo- 

 late and acute, as long as the corolla-tube: fr. a yellow 

 globose drupe, the size of a small pea, with edible thin 

 pulp. Texas, Mex. WILHELM MILLER. 



L. H. B.f 



EICHHORNIA (after J. A. F. Eichhorn, a Prussian 

 Minister, born 1779). Pontederiacese. Tropical aquatic 

 herbs, grown for showy flowers and interesting habit. 



Perennial, floating, rooting at the nodes: immersed 

 Ivs. on young sts. linear; emersed Ivs. obovate or 



