Cyclopedia of American Horticulture 



EARTH NUT, EARTH PKA. Kn-li 

 Peanut, or i.iuuber, ^Lroclii.s liyjxxjrea. 



<h n:iiiu-s fdi 

 Also Ai'io.'i. 



EATdNIA (Amos E:iton, Ainorican botatiist, 177 

 "181'J; authorof popular Manual ot' liutany of the Unit 

 States, which was for a loiiy; time the ouly i^t^U'Tiil wo 

 available for American studi-ius | , O' rum i)ieiv . 

 North American ffenus of 4 or .') specit-s of luftod i>( 

 ennial tJ:rasses. Three kinds have- l)een catalo^^m-d 

 Wilfred. Brothertou, Rochester, Mich. 



A. Pui. 



Spikrli'ts crowded on tlie six 



obtus^ta, (ira^v 



erect panicle-hranolics : upj.icr cinply tj:lnin(.' rounds 

 obovate, very obtuse. Dry yuil. 



AA. Pnuirh' more Icosp tnul ^hiulcr. 



PeunBylvd.nica, Gray. Lvs. :)-() in. lon^r : p>aniclc- 

 branches lax, noddiu;^'. iMoist wo<ids and meadows. 



Diidleyi, \'asr'y, Tjvs. 1-2 in. loni:: : pani(dc-bran(d]rs 

 si'readiug in lloweriny time, afterwards rri-ct. 



A. S. niT(.'H(_OcK. 



EBONY, nio.ynjros I'Jh<',nfs. 



ECBALLITJM iGreeli. to throir out). CnvurljiJ-'irnr. 

 S^tUKTiNG (Jri'UMBER. The Squirting Cucumber is one 

 of the most amusing aud disconcerting of all plants. 

 Few if any cultivated plants fire their seeds at one witli 

 such startling suddenness and force. It is a hardy an- 

 nual trailing vine, easily grown in an}' ganlen. When 

 ripe, the oblong, prickly fruit squirts its seeds at tlje 

 slightest touch, or sometimes at the mere vibration of 

 the ground made by a person walking by. "^Phe boy or 

 girl who did not like this plant never lived. Some of 

 the old herbalists called this plant. Ciirutnis osiiihnis. 

 Another carious fact about the plant is that a power- 

 ful cathartic is made from the juice of the fruit, which 

 has been known for many centuries. A preparation of 

 it is still sold In the drug stores as Triturdt'u) A'tati'ri)// . 

 Ecballiuni has only one species, aud is closely relateil 

 to the important genera (.'ucumis and ( 'itrnllus. With 

 them it differs from JMomordica in lacking the 2 or 'A 

 scales which close the bottom of the calyx. Other ge- 

 neric characters are : prostrate herb, deshy, rough 

 hairy: lvs. heart-shaped, more or less H-loi>ed; tendrils 

 wanting; fls. yellow, the stamiuate in racemes, pistillate 

 usually from the same axils with the staniintite tis. ; 

 calyx 5-cut. It is a native of the middle and eastern 

 Mediterranean regions, especially rich, moist forests. 

 Sims, in the Botanical Magazine, says the plant "is gen- 

 erally considered as an annual, but if the soil is dry and 

 the situation sheltered, the root will survive two or 

 thi'ee winters, and the plants will tiower earlier and 

 .spread farther than those iif the same year." 



Elat6rium, A. Rich. ( Moment I >■</ J'.lnlh-initt . Linn.). 

 Squirting OrcuMBKK. Fig. 744. Described above. 

 B.M. 1914. W. M. 



ECCREMOCARPUS (Greek, pendent fruits). Big- 

 ■}wnidce(e. Three to five species of tall, somewhat woody 

 plants from Peru and Chile, climbing by branched ten- 

 drils at the end of the twice pinnate leaves, and having 

 very distinct flowers of somewhat tubular shape, which 

 are colored yellow, orange or scarlet. The sjtecies men- 

 tioned below is doubtless perennial in southern Califor- 

 nia, where it is said to show best when clindjing over 

 shrubbery, but in the East it is treated as a tender an- 

 nual aud is perhaps usually trained to a trellis or south 

 wall. It bears flowers and fruits at the same time, and 

 the orange flowers make an effective contrast with the 

 pale green foliage. The genus belongs to an order fa- 

 mous for its superb tropical climbers, but in its own 



Ihe tribe oiih' twn ij:ener:i lia\'e anv horticultural fame, and 

 that small. Tlie>e are .iacara'nda and Colca. IiaviuL- .a 

 L'-i-elled ovary, while t.hat of Eccrenmcai'pus is 1-celled. 

 77(1- li]ccr(-:moi"irpus has two sections, in om^ nf which tin^ 

 e(( c(.)r<dlas are cylindrical, but in the section Calampeli--, 

 rk to wlii<di A', sriihrr b.don-s. the <-'irolla has a ioint at a. 

 A short distance beyon<l Ihe i-alyx, then swells out on tlie 

 ■ f- uuder side, ami suildenly constricts into a neck befoi-e 

 |,v it rea.fdies the siuall, cii-cnhir mouth, sui-rounth'd l.iv '» 

 short, I'ounded h,lM-s. 



SCaber, Ruiz, .'c Pav. \ ( 'olaoipf lis sraJ,rr, 1). Don). 

 Although the specitic name means rouirh. the wild ]dant 

 '"^ is only sparingh' ])uberalous, and in cnltiviition entirely 

 ■'I- iA-labrous. About 10 ft. high : lvs. bii>innate; Ifts. ob"- 

 li(piel\- cordate, entire or saw-toothed : fls. ] in. I'.utg. 

 orangi-, in raceun-s. .luly, Aug. Chih/. B.K. II -.'XWK 

 , Petek HenjjEkson A: (.'n, 



ECHEVfiRIA. All i-cferred t.. Cnlnledini. 



ECHINACEA l Greek, pchinos, hedgehog ; allndinij to 

 Ihe sharp-].)ointeil bracts of the receptacle). <'iiiii}i6.^ltii . 

 I'l'iti'LE GoNE-FLowEK. Four species of North American 

 ]»erennial herljs, two of them from Mexico, the others 

 native to the United States, and cultivated in our hardv 

 "'■ borders. Thny are closely related to Kudbeckia, bu"t 

 tijeir niys range from flesh color, thj'<tu;^d] rose, to pur- 

 ple and crimson, while those of Rudbeckia ai'i- yellow <m- 

 jiartly (rarely wholly) Ijrown-pnr|)h'. The high disk 

 and the downward angle at whi^di the ra\s are pointed 

 are (duirming features of Echinaceas. The disk is only 

 convex at flrst, but becomes egg-shaped, and the receji- 

 tacle conical, while Rudbeckia has a greater range, tlie 

 disk Croni trlobose to columnar, and the recepta<de from 



744. Ecballium Elaterium (/ t-^). 



:?ouical to cylindrical. Echinaceas and Rudbei-kias are 

 st'.)ut, and perhaps a little coarse in appearance, but 

 their flowers, sometimes (i in. across, are very attractive, 

 and borne in succession for two months or more of late 

 summer. With the growing appreciation o hardy bor- 

 ders and of native plants, it shouhl be ].ossible to 

 procnri- 4 or 5 {listinct c(jlors in the flower, associated 

 with low, medium aud tall-growing haidts. Tln-y do well 



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(511) 



