938 



ARBOnETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



green shrub, with numerous cylin- 

 drical wand-like branches, articu- 

 lated, and furnished at each arti- 

 culation with two small linear 

 leaves. South of France and 



1747- E distachja. 



Spain, in sandy soils on the sea- 

 shore. Height 3 ft. to 4 ft. In- 

 troduced in 1750. Flowers 

 whitish ; June and July. Berries red ; ripe in August. 



As far as we have observed, justice has never been done to this, or any 

 other species of i5J'phedra, in British gardens. The fruit becomes succulent, 

 like that of the mulberry, with a slightly acid and yet sugary and agreeable 

 taste, and might be cultivated for the dessert. 



e- 2. E. monosta'chya L. 



The one-spiked Ephedra, or Small shrubby 

 Horsetail. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1472. ; Ait. Hort. Kew., 3. p. 116. ; N. Du Ham., 3. 



p. 18. 

 Synonj/iiies. E. /rolygonoides Pall. Ross. ; Ephfedre mineure, Eph&dre de 



Siberie, Fr. 

 The Sexes There are male plants at Messrs. Loddiges's. 

 Engravings. Dend. Brit., t. 142. ; and our figs. 1749. and 1750. of the male 



plant. 



1749. E. monost^chya. 



Spec. Char., ^-c. Peduncles many. Catkins 

 solitary. {Lin.) An evergreen shrub, much 

 smaller, and hardier than E. distachya. Si- 

 beria, near salt springs, and in saline wastes ; 

 and, according to Pallas, common in the 

 southern parts of Russia, from the Don and 

 the Volga to the Leira ; Persia and India. 

 Height I ft. to 2 ft. Int!roduced in 1772. 

 Flowers whitish ; June to July. Berries red ; 

 ripe in August and September. 



1^ 



1750. 

 E. monostichya. 



The Kergisi use the ashes of the wood of the ^'phedra for snuff. 



Order LXXVI. TAX/VCEiE. 



Ord Char. Floral buds consisting of numerous imbricate scales. Floiuers 

 dioecious. Male flowers disposed in catkins, each consisting of a scale, and 

 a 2- or many-celled anther, the cells dehiscing longitudinally. Female 

 floivers solitary, naked or bracteate. Nut, or seed, solitary, surrounded 

 at its base by a disk, which at length becomes fleshy, and conceals the 

 greater portion or the whole of the nut, and forms with it what may be 

 called a succulent drupe, except in Torreysr, where the nut is not surrounded 

 by any disk, but by dry scarcely increasing scales. The nut or seed is 



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'irifi 



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