1126 



EQUISETUM 



ERANTHEMUM 



and wettish places and help to hold sandy banks. The 

 following have been advertised by dealers in native 

 plants: E. arvense, E. hiemdle (Fig. 1404), E. Isevigdtum, 

 E. limbsum, E. pratense, E. robustum, E. scirpoides, E. 

 sylvdticum, E. variegdtum. For descriptions, consult the 

 manuals of native plants. They grow usually in moist 

 or swale-like places. They are flowerless plants, allied 

 to ferns and club-mosses. 



Of the species named above, E. arvense has been 

 found to have a poisonous effect on grazing stock when 

 it occurs in any quantity in hay or pasturage. 



R. C. BENEDICT.! 



ERAGROSTIS (Greek, er, spring, and agrostis, a 

 grass). Gramlnese. LOVE-GRASS. Annual or perennial 

 grasses with more or less diffuse panicles of small 

 several-flowered compressed spikelets. Some species 

 grown in the open for ornament. 



1405. Eragrostis suaveolens. ( X Ji) 



From 6 in. to several feet tall: culms simple or often 

 branched; lemmas keeled, 3-nerved, the palea ciliate 

 on the keels. Species about 100 in warm and tem- 

 perate regions of both hemispheres. 



Some annual species are common weeds, such as E. 

 megastdchya, Link (E. major, Host), STINK- or SNAKE- 

 GRASS, with rather large, ill-smelling spikelets in a 

 compact panicle. Dept. Agric., Div. Agrost. 17:215. 

 E. pectindcea, Nees, a native of U. S., is a handsome 

 perennial, with large open panicles of purple spikelets. 

 Well adapted to cult, in sandy soils. Ibid 17:261. E. 

 obtusa, Munro (Brlza geniculata, Thurb.), an annual 

 with showy spikelets, is cult, in Eu., but little known 

 in U.S. V.3:247. 



abyssinica, Link (Pba abyssinica, Jacq.). TEFF. A 

 branching and spreading leafy annual, 1-3 ft. : panicle 

 large and open, 1 ft. long, the branches capillary; 

 spikelets numerous, loosely 5-9-fld., 3-^ lines long; 

 lemmas acuminate, scaberulous on the tip and nerves. 

 Afr. This and the following are cult, for ornament, the 

 spreading panicles being used for bouquets. The 

 abundant seed used for making bread in N. E. Afr. 



suaveolens, Becker (E. collma, Trin.). Fig. 1405. 

 A spreading leafy annual, 1-2 ft., differing from the 



preceding in the less diffuse panicles, the more com- 

 pact spikelets and the less acuminate lemmas. W. Asia. 



interrupta, Doell (E. elegans, Nees). An erect 

 annual, 1-2 ft.: panicle feathery, 1 ft. long, rather 

 narrow, the branches ascending, closely fld. with 

 numerous small spikelets. Brazil. 



amabilis, Wight & Arn. (Pba amdbilis, Linn.). 

 Erect or spreading annual, 1-2 ft. : panicles small, 4-6 

 in., rather compact; spikelets purple, many-fld., 3 lines 

 long, 1 line wide. India. 



maxima, Baker. An erect, robust annual, 2-3 ft.: 

 blades lanceolate, cordate at base: panicle erect, lax, 

 6-9 in. long and broad, the pedicels capillary; spikelets 

 oblong, M~^ m - long. Madagascar. 



, A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



ERANTHEMUM (Greek, lovely flower}. Acanthd- 

 cex. Tropical shrubs and sub-shrubs, some of which are 

 cultivated chiefly for their foliage and others for their 

 flowers. 



Leaves entire or rarely coarsely toothed: fls. white, 

 lilac, rosy or red, borne in various ways; bracts and 

 bractlets narrow, small; corolla-tube long, slender, 

 cylindrical throughout or rarely with a short throat; 

 limb 5-parted; stamens 2; ovules 2 in each cell; seeds 

 4 or fewer. Perhaps 30 species. The genus Daedala- 

 canthus, although in a different tribe, is separated only 

 by a combination of technical characters, but the 

 garden forms of both genera described in this work 

 are. all distinguishable at a glance. For cult., see Jus- 

 tida. Consult Dsedalacanthus for related species. 



A. Fls. purple. 



Iaxifl6rum, Gray. Height 2-4 ft.: Ivs. on the same 

 plant varying greatly in size and shape, those near the 

 fls. 2-3 K in- long, 8-15 lines wide; petioles 2-6 lines 

 long, widest below, at or above the middle, more or 

 less ovate-oblong, obtuse, narrowed at the base: fls. 

 in cymes; stamens 2, perfect, sharp-pointed. Fiji. 

 B.M. 6336. 



AA. Fls. pure white. 



tuberculatum, Hook. Easily told while growing by 

 the many small roundish and rough elevations on the 

 branches: Ivs. small, j^g-^in. wide, rarely if ever 1 in. 

 long, broadly elliptical, obtuse or notched, almost ses- 

 sile: fls. numerous, borne singly in the axils, in summer; 

 corolla-tube very long and slender, 1J^ in. long; limb 

 1 in. across; stamens scarcely exserted. Habitat un- 

 known. B.M. 5405. 



AAA. Fls. white, speckled with red-purple. 



B. Foliage netted with yellow. 



reticulatum, Hort. (E. Schdmburgkii, Lind.). Height 

 4 ft. : upper Ivs. 2-7 in. long, ovate-lanceolate, charac- 

 teristically netted with yellow; lower Ivs. 6-10 in. long, 

 not netted, but the veins prominent and yellow: fls. 

 racemose; corolla speckled with blood-red at the 

 mouth; anthers reddish brown, exserted. Possibly 

 Austral. B.M. 7480. I.H. 26:349. 



BB. Foliage not netted with yellow. 

 Andersonii, Mast. Lvs. lanceolate or elliptic, nar- 

 rowed into a short stalk: fls. in a spike 6 in. long; lower 

 middle lobe of the corolla larger and speckled with 

 purple. Trinidad. Gn. 45:11. G.Z. 25:49. 



The following trade names belong to plants grown chiefly for 

 their foliage. Probably many of them belong in other genera. 

 E. dlbo-marginatum. Lvs. broadly margined with white and 

 irregularly suffused gray. E. atrosanguineum, Hort. Intro, by 

 W. Bull, 1875. Lvs. large, dark, wine-purple, or blackish crim- 

 son, ovate entire, opposite, stalked. Said to endure the hottest 

 sunshine. E. cultratum. "Lvs. shining, thick, deep-veined." 

 E. Dutremblayanum, Hort., is supposed to be a garden hybrid. 

 Intro, from France in 1907. E. Eldorddo. Lvs. greenish yel- 

 low, veins deeper yellow. E. igneum. G.W. 3, p. 159. See Cham- 

 seranthemum. E. Magnednum, Hort., is recorded as a garden 

 hybrid. Intro, from France 1907. Scarcely known in U. S. E. 

 nerium riibrum presumably a misprint for nervum-rubrum, has Ivs. 

 "irregularly shaped, shaded with light and dark green, and blotched 



