1120 



EPIDENDRUM 



EPIG^A 



scented. Stately species. Guiana. B.R. 1623. E. phoeniceum, 

 Lindl. Panicles 2-3 ft.; fls. deep purple, mottled green; lip rich 

 violet, stained crimson. Handsome. Cuba. F. virgatum, Lindl. 

 Scape up to 7 ft. high; fls. small, up to 20, greenish, stained brown. 

 Mex. 



Aulizeum: E. variegdtum, Hook. Racemes many-fld.; fls. 

 fragrant; sepals and petals pale yellow, the lip rose or white-and- 

 rose-spotted. S. Amer. B.M. 3151. 



Other species mentioned in horticultural literature are: E. campy- 

 lostalyx, Reichb. f. A curious species with glaucous green pseudo- 

 bulbs and Iva.: fls. yellowish tinged with chocolate color. Cent. 

 Amer. E. Ldmbda, Lind. Closely allied to E. fragrans. Sepals and 

 petals light salmon-color; lip cream-yellow with violet lines; crest 

 velvety. Colombia. E. laterale, Hort. Infl. produced on a 

 rudimentary pseudobulb as in E. Stamfordianum. Cent. Amer. 

 E. pterocdrpum, Lindl. Of diminutive growth, chiefly of botanical 

 interest. Mex. E. punctiferum, Reichb. f. Fls. in erect spikes, 

 green, the lip spotted with purple. Brazil. E. purpurachylum, 

 Rodr. "Sepals and petals dull olive-green, tinged with brown; 

 corrugated front lobe of lip deep purple, with whitish yellow mar- 

 gin; fls. fragrant, not unlike violets." E. sacchar&tum, Kranzl. 

 Raceme 15-20-fld.; fls. green, marked with dark brown; lip white, 

 rose-purple at apex. Guiana. E. Stall forthianum, Kranzl. Sepals 

 and petals dull brown; column ivory-white; fls. have a peculiar 

 and disagreeable odor. Mex. G.C. III. 51: 114. E. tripunct&tum, 

 Lindl. Intro, in 1881 and now reappearing in cult. 



GEORGE HANSEN. 

 GEORGE V. 



EPIDIACRIUM (compounded of Epidendrum and 

 Diacrium). Orchiddceae. A genus established to con- 

 tain hybrids between Epidendrum and Diacrium. 



The following is sometimes found in collections: E. Cdlmanii 

 (E. ciliare X D. bicornutum). 



EPIG.3JA (Greek, epi, upon, gaia, earth; in reference 

 to the trailing growth). Ericacese. Evergreen spring- 

 blooming plants, herbaceous in appearance but with 

 woody creeping stems, sometimes planted. 



Leaves alternate, petiolate, entire, leathery: fls. 

 usually dioecious, sometimes perfect, in short terminal 

 or pseudo-axillary spikes, each in the axil of a green 

 bract and with 2 green brastlets; sepals 5, green; corolla 

 pink or white, salver-shaped, with 5 lobes; stamens 10, 

 attached to the base of the corolla-tube, the 2-celled 

 anthers dehiscing by slits not, as is usual in the Erica- 

 cese, by pores; style columnar; stigma 5-lobed; ovary 

 densely hairy, 5-celled, with many ovules: fr. depressed- 

 globose, fleshy, dehiscent along the partitions, the 

 many minute seeds set on the surface of the white suc- 

 culent placentae. Two species, N. E. Amer. and Japan. 



repens, Linn. TRAILING ARBUTUS. MAYFLOWER. 

 Fig. 1399. Spreading on the ground in patches some- 

 times 2 ft. diam., the hirsute sts. rooting: If .-blades 

 ovate-oblong to orbicular, cordate or rounded at the 

 base, obtuse or broadly acute at the apex, sparingly 

 hirsute on the margins and both surfaces, 1-3 in. 

 long: fls. fragrant, the corolla-lobes spreading, those of 

 the male fls. much larger than the female; stamens 

 in the female fls. often reduced to mere rudiments of 

 filaments; stigmas spreading in the female fls., folded 

 together in the male: fr. berry -like after dehiscence, 

 the axis, dissepiments, and placentae fleshy. Newfound- 

 land to Sask., south to Fla., Ky., 

 and Wis. It grows only in acid 

 soils. 



Trailing arbutus, probably the 

 best beloved of all the early wild 

 flowers of the eastern United States, 

 is rarely seen in cultivation. Yet 

 it thrives in the same acid peaty 

 Bandy well aerated soils as the 

 blueberry, and like the blueberry it 

 has in and on its roots a myco- 

 rhizal fungus upon which it prob- 

 ably depends for nutrition. One of 

 the most satisfactory potting mix- 

 tures is nine parts finely sifted 

 kalmia peat, one part clean sand, 

 and three parts clean broken 

 crocks. In watering the plants one 

 should use rain-water, bog-water, 

 or some other water free from lime. 



Wild plants may be transplanted, preferably in autumn 

 or very early spring, care being taken to lift a large 

 portion of the root-mat without disturbing the roots. 

 Such plants should be kept in a coldframe or coolhouse 

 and until abundant new roots are formed should 

 receive little or no direct sunlight. They may be 

 propagated by division or by layers, but the resulting 

 plants are seldom symmetrical. 



The best method of propagating trailing arbutus is 

 by the seed. The fruit, which is often borne in abun- 

 dance on vigorous female plants, ripens at the same 

 season as the wild strawberry. At maturity and while 

 still herbaceous the wall of the fruit splits from the 

 center into five valves which turn backward in a green 

 rosette exposing the white fleshy edible berry-like 

 interior, % to % of an inch in diameter and dotted with 

 seeds. The fruits disappear quickly after dehiscence, 

 commonly within a few hours, being eagerly sought by 

 ants, snails, and birds. A fruit bears usually 300 to 

 500 seeds. The seeds, which are easily separated from 

 the pulp by rubbing between the fingers, should be 

 sown at once in a well-drained shallow box, in a mixture 

 of two parts finely sifted kalmia peat and one part of 

 clean sand, covered about fs of an inch with the same 

 material, and watered slowly but thoroughly with a 

 very fine rose. If covered with a glass and kept away 

 from direct sunlight a second watering may not be 

 required before germination. The seeds come up in 

 three to four weeks, and in their earliest stages after 

 germination often require protection from ants. This 

 is best accomplished by setting the seed-boxes on pots 

 inverted in saucers of water. In the heat of summer 

 young seedlings, and older plants as well, can not stand 

 full sunlight. A lath shade with spaces of the same 

 width as the lath usually furnishes sufficient protection. 

 In the third or fourth month from germination, when 

 the plants are about y% of an inch in diameter, they 

 should be potted in 2-inch pots in the mixture of peat, 

 sand, and crocks already described, and the pots 

 plunged in sand in shallow boxes. 



If carried through the first winter in a greenhouse, 

 with a night temperature of 55 to 60 and a day 

 temperature of about 65 to 70, the plants continue 

 their growth all winter, and in the following summer 

 some of them even without transfer to larger pots will 

 lay down a few clusters of flower-buds, in preparation 

 for the next spring's blooming, when they are a year 

 and a half old. Many of the plants, however, do not 

 flower until they are two and a half years old, their 



1399. Trailing arbutus or Mayflower Epigaea repens. 



