EPIPHYTES 



EQUISETUM 



1125 



ally absorbed by the living tissues. Rain, dew, or 

 moist substrata may furnish the water, but the view 

 that these roots absorb water vapor is erroneous. The 

 Bromeliaceae are peculiar in the possession of certain 

 absorbing leaf -scales or hairs. The Florida moss pos- 

 sesses such hairs over the entire surfaces of the 

 thread-like stems and 

 leaves, and the plant 

 is rootless. There are 

 all gradations between 

 this and the soil-rooted 

 pineapple - like forms. 

 The arrangement of 

 the leaves in many of 

 the bromeliads possess- 

 ing larger leaves is 

 Buch as to establish 

 after a rain a tempo- 

 rary reservoir about the 

 leaf - bases. The ab- 

 sorbing scales of the 

 bromeliads exhibit 

 features worthy of note 

 in three particulars: (1) When 

 dry certain dead cells absorb 

 water greedily; (2) with ab- 

 sorption they assume a posi- 

 tion making possible the entry 

 of water to a considerable sur- 

 face of living cells, and (3) 

 with collapse, due to loss of 

 water, the spaces admitting 

 water are closed and loss is 

 minimized. 



Aside from such saprophytic fungi as might 

 be considered epiphytic, the epiphytes are 

 amply provided with chlorophyll - bearing 

 tissue; therefore, organic food is manufac- 

 tured as in other plants. Some of the epiphytes 

 growing upon such humus-developing sub- '\ 

 trata as the decaying bark of trees, or such as 

 passively accumulate humus and other materials in the 

 vicinity of their absorbing surfaces, might absorb some 

 organic compounds as well as salts in this way; but 

 this supply of organic matter is certainly inconsequen- 

 tial in most cases. Water and salts are secured either 

 through the air-roots, as described, or partially through 

 normal roots, when such occur. Many species, epi- 

 phytic at first, ultimately send roots into the soil, and 

 then secure water and salts largely through the terres- 

 trial habit. 



In the forest, certain of the seed-bearing epiphytes are 

 specialized with respect to supporting plants, often 

 due to the special nature of the protection offered, or 

 to the physical advantages of the substratum in regard 

 to fixation of the plant. Most species are markedly 

 unspecialized and may be grown in the greenhouse 

 most successfully. B. M. DUGGAR. 



EPIPREMNTJM (upon the trunk of trees). Aracese. 

 Resembling the genus Rhaphidophora but has fewer 

 ovules, 2 or more 1-seeded berries not confluent, and 

 albuminous kidney-shaped instead of almost terete 

 seeds. About 8 species from Malay and Polynesia. 

 E. giganteum, Schott. A robust climber over 100 ft. 

 high, the sts. emitting long rope-like roots from every 

 growth: Ivs. cordate-oblong, 6-8 ft. long, including the 

 petiole which is as long as the blade and winged through- 

 out its length: spathe about 1 ft. long, ending in a 

 curved beak-spadix as long as spathe. Malay Penins. 

 B.M. 7952. 



EPISCIA (Greek, shady; thy grow wild in shady 

 places). Gesneri&ceae. Choice and interesting warm- 

 house plants, E. cupreata being much pnzed for 

 baskets. 



Herbs, with long, short or no hairs: st. from a creep- 

 ing root, branched or not: Ivs. opposite, equal or not 

 in size: fls. pedicelled, axillary, solitary or clustered; 

 corollas mostly scarlet, rarely whitish or purplish; 

 tube straight or curved, more or less spurred at the 

 base; limb oblique or nearly equal; lobes 5, spreading, 

 rounded. Perhaps 30 species, all Trop. American. 



Episcia cupreata is one of the standard basket plants, 

 especially for the warmest greenhouses. It can also be 

 used in pyramids and mounds, as told under Fittonia. 

 As it does not require so close an atmosphere as the 

 fittonias, it can be grown in some living-rooms and per- 

 haps outdoors in summer in a shady place. Its chief 

 charms are the slender, trailing habit, the soft hairiness 

 of the leaves, the coppery hue, which is often laid on 

 like paint in two broad bands skirting the midrib, and 

 the rarer and perhaps finer metallic bluish luster of 

 which one occasionally gets a glimpse in a finely grown 

 specimen. Give very rich, fibrous loam, mixed with 

 peat, leaf-mold and sand; in summer partial shade. 

 (Robert Shore.) 



A. Fls. pale lavender to white. 



chontalensis, Hook. (Cyrtodelra chontalensis, Seem.). 

 St. stout, more or less ascending, dark reddish purple, 

 6-10 in. long: Ivs. opposite and irregularly whorled, 

 3-4 in. long, oblong-ovate to elliptic-ovate, crenate, 

 obtuse, rounded at the base, decidedly convex on both 

 sides of the midrib and between the much-sunk veins; 

 margins recurved, green, marked with regular 

 purple patches, which advance from the mar- 

 gins between the veins toward the midrib and 

 are more or less oblong : fls. solitary or in small 

 clusters; corolla- tube with a sac at the base, 

 the limb oblique, lJ-^-2 in. across, with small 

 and regular but conspicuous and beautiful 

 teeth. Chontales region of Nicaragua. B.M. 

 5925. R.B. 22:241. F.S. 18:1924. 



AA. Fls. scarlet. 

 B. Lvs. usually not green, or only partially so. 



cupreata, Hanst. (Achimenes cupreata, 

 Hook.). Fig. 1403. Sts. slender, creeping, 

 branched, rooting at the joints, with a main 

 branch rising erect a few inches, which bears 

 the fls. and the largest Ivs.: Ivs. copper- 

 colored above: fls. solitary, 9 lines wide, scar- 

 let, with a small sac and denticulate limb. 

 Nicaragua. B.M. 4312. Var. viridifdlia, Hook., 

 has green foliage and larger fls., 1 in. across. 

 B.M. 5195. 



coccinea, Benth. & Hook. (Cyrtodeira cocci- 

 nea, Hort., B. S. Williams). Lvs. dark metal- 

 lic green, 3-4 in. long, 2*^-3 in. wide. Free- 

 flowering. Some of the plants sold as E. 

 metattica. a- name otherwise unknown in 

 botanical literature, probably belong here. 



BB. Lvs. a rich dark green. 



fulgida, Hook. A beautiful, creeping, much- 

 branched hothouse plant, covered throughout 

 with soft villous pubescence: Ivs. ovate to 

 elliptic, wavy and serrate margined, ciliate: 

 fls. axillary, solitary, the calyx prominently 

 1-sided, the sepals with recurved tips; corolla 

 bright red, the limb deeper colored than the 

 tube which is about 1%'rn. long; corolla-lobes 

 rounded and hairy toward the throat. N. S. 

 Amer. B.M. 6136. G.W. 3, p. 161. 



WILHELM MILLER. 



N. TAYLOR.t E l ? tum 



EQUISETUM (from the Latin equus, horse, hiemale. 

 and seta, bristle). Equisetaceae. Contains the Common 

 weeds known as horse-tails, or scouring-rushes scouring- 

 which are suitable for naturalizing in waste *&- 



