CHAP. CXI. 



GNETA^CE/E. EPHEDRA. 



206: 



tries, ripens in spring, becoming succulent, like a little mulberry, with a slightly 

 acid, and yet sugary and agreeable, taste. In the warmer parts of the south 

 of England, this fruit might be cultivated so as to become valuable for the 

 dessert ; from its ripening at a time when no other fruit in the open air in 

 Britain is ever found ripe. The plants, when allowed to grow to their full 

 size, form evergreen bushes ; not by the colour of their leaves, which are 

 scarcely perceptible, except when very closely observed ; but by the deep 

 green bark of the shoots, which, in old plants, are very numerous, and form a 

 dense head. According to Du Hamel, they bear the shears well, and form 

 beautiful round balls, which may either be made to appear as if lying on the 

 ground, or may be trained on a short stem. The lower sorts, Du Hamel 

 continues, may be clipped to resemble turf; and for that purpose the plant 

 may be valuable, in some parts of Australia and Africa, to form lawns which 

 shall create an allusion to temperate climates. The saving by using such 

 plants as Ephedra, which would require little or no watering, instead of a 

 great deal, as the European grasses would do in such a climate, would be very 

 considerable. 



1. E. DISTA V CHYA L. 



The two-spiked Ephedra, Great shrubby Horse- 

 tail, or Sea Grape. 



p. 16. 



Identification. Lin. Sp.,1472. ; N. Du Ham., 3. p. 19. ; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 1 

 Synonymes. £'phedra vulgaris Rich. 



Mem. Co?iif.,p. 26. t. 4. f.l. ; Polygonum 



marinum Tabern. Ic, 836. ; P. quir- 



tum Plinu Clus.Hist.,92., Icon., t.836.; 



P. lamifolium, &c, Bauh. Pin., 15.; 



/Ephedra maritima major Town. Inst., 



663., Sckaw. Sp., No.214., N. Du Ham., 



t. 1. p. 220. ; Tragos Cam. Hort., t. 46. ; 



Raisin de Mer, Ephedre multitfore, 



Fr. ; Zweyahriger Ross Schwanz Ger. 

 The Sexes. Both are figured in Taber- 



neemontanus, in Clusius, and in Ri- 

 chard. 

 Engravings. Tabern. Ic, 836. ; Clus. 



Icon., t. 836. ; Camer. Hort., t. 46. ; 



Schkuhr Hand., 3. t. 339. ; Du Ham., 



1. 1. pi. 92. ; Rich. Mem. Conif., t. 4. 



f. 1. ; and our figs. 1973. and 1974. 



1973 



Spec. Char c}e. Peduncles opposite. Catkins twin. (Lin.) A small ever- 



ES3J2E& W f n . Umer ° US . <* lindrical wand-like branches, articulated, 

 and lurmshed at each articula- 

 tion with two small linear leaves. 

 A native of the south of France 

 and Spain, in sandy soils on the 

 sea shore, where it grows to the 

 height of 3 ft. or 4 ft. ; and flow- 

 ers in June and July, ripening 

 its berries a short time after- 

 wards. It was cultivated in Eng- 

 land before 1570, by Matthias 

 L'Obel ; but, as far as we have 

 observed, justice has never been 

 done to this, or any other spe- 

 cies of Ephedra in British gar- 

 dens. There are plants in the 

 Hammersmith Nursery, in the 

 Twickenham Botanic Garden, 

 in the Horticultural Society's 

 Garden, at Kew, and at Messrs. 

 Loddijies. 



1974 



n. 2. E. monosta v 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 IS 



6 s 



