51 6 EPIGJEA ERCILLA 



EPIG/EA REPENS, Linnceus. MAY-FLOWER. ERICACEAE. 



A creeping, evergreen shrub reaching only 4 to 6 ins. above the 

 ground, the slender hairy stems rooting at intervals. Leaves leathery, 

 alternate, ovate-oblong, with a heart-shaped base and a round or short- 

 pointed apex ; i to 3 ins. long, J to 2 ins. wide ; of a rather dark glossy 

 green, rough and sprinkled with short bristles on both surfaces and at 

 the margin ; leaf-stalk J to f in. long, hairy. Flowers produced in April, 

 four to six together in a dense terminal head about i in. across, furnished 

 at the base with green, hairy, lanceolate bracts. Corolla tubular, f in. 

 long, with five spreading, roundish ovate lobes, making it about in. 

 across at the mouth, woolly within; white or rosy tinted; calyx-lobes 

 lanceolate, smooth, half as long as the corolla, green. 



Native of Eastern N. America, from Canada to Georgia. It is 

 abundant near Plymouth, in Massachusetts, where the Pilgrim Fathers 

 landed in 1620. By them, tradition says, it was named after their own 

 famous vessel. It is said to have been introduced to Britain in 1736, but, 

 owing to the difficulty experienced in cultivating it, has never become 

 common. Although capable of withstanding any frost experienced in 

 this country, it misses its native covering of snow, and is excited into 

 premature growth by our mild winters only to be cut off by later frost. 

 It likes a peaty soil, and in Mr Waterer's nursery at Knap Hill thrives 

 admirably on the shady side of a clump of rhododendrons. On the other 

 hand, I have seen it equally good in the botanic garden at Dresden in 

 full sun ; but there the climate is not dissimilar to that of its native home. 

 The best success in Britain has been attained by giving it the shelter of a 

 handlight in late winter, and during frosty nights in spring. Propagated 

 by layers. 



ERCILLA VOLUBILIS, Jussieu. PHYTOLACCACE^E. 



(Bridgesia spicata, Hooker.} 



An evergreen climber producing a dense mass of slender, sparsely 

 branched, very leafy stems, ultimately 15 to 20 ft. high, attaching them- 

 selves to walls or tree-trunks by means of aerial roots; young wood 

 smooth. Leaves alternate, J in. or less apart; ovate or oblong, f to ij 

 ins. long, J to i in. wide ; tapered or rounded at the base, blunt at the 

 apex, wavy at the margin ; smooth, stout, fleshy, dark shining green ; 

 stalk \ to J in. long. Flowers produced in March and April in dense 

 spikes which are i to ij ins. long, \ in. through, cylindrical. Calyx 

 J in. across, with five dull white, ovate sepals; stamens white, about 

 eight, I in. long, much protruded. Corolla none. 



Native of Chile; introduced in 1840 by Thomas Bridges, a very 

 industrious collector of South American plants. The genus (of which 

 this is the only species) was named after him by Hooker, but the name 

 had to give way to an earlier one. It lives outside at Kew, and flowers 

 regularly, but succeeds better against a wall, where, if the leading shoots 



