437 



Clje €rea£ttrg al 2Sotaun. 



EC HE 



bear dense spikes or round heads of pink 

 or violet, blossoms, in which the deeply- 

 lipped calyx is conspicuous, and densely 

 clothed frith silky hairs. The keel of the 

 corolla has the very minute triangular 

 wings adhering to its claw near the base, 

 and of the ten stamens, nine are united 

 into a tube, and one is free. [A. A, B.] 



EBOE TREE. Dipterix ebdensis. 



EBONY. The timber of various species 

 of Diospyros, especially D. Ebenum, Ebe- 

 naster, and Melanoxylon. — AMERICAN. 

 Brya Ebenus. — GREEN". Exccecaria glan- 

 chdosa, and also Jacaranda ovalifolia. — 

 JAMAICA,or WEST INDIA. Brya Ebenus. 

 — MOUNTAIN. Bauhinia variegata. 



EBRACTEATE Having no bracts. 



EBT7RNEUS. Of the colour of ivory. 



ECALCARATE. Having no calcar, or 



spur. 



ECASTAPHYLLPM. A small genus of 

 leguminous shrubs found in S. America 

 i and TV". Africa, nearly related to Dalbergia, 

 which has long straight thin pods, while 

 these have flat, nearly orbicular one-seeded 

 pods % whose valves have a tendency to a 

 corky thickening. The leaves are some- 

 times simple, but more generally pinnate, 

 and made up of three to five pairs of oval 

 leaflets, and an odd one. Their little 

 white straw-coloured or reddish-purple 

 pea flowers are disposed in short axillary 

 cymes. The calyx is bell-shaped and five- 

 toothed ; the stamens eight or nine, but 

 more usually ten, nine united and one free. 

 E. Monetaria, a pinnate-leaved species with 

 white flowers found in Surinam, has red 

 wood, which is said to furnish a resin like 

 dragon's blood, and the root when cut emits 

 a purple juice. The name is sometimes 

 written Hecastophyllum. [A. A. B.] 



ECBALIUM. A genus of Cucurbitacece 

 closely allied to Momordica, from which it 

 ! differs in the absence of tendrils, and of 

 rudimentary stamens in the female flowers, 

 and by the peculiarity of the fruit, which 

 when ripe separates from the stalk and 

 expels, with considerable force, the brown 

 seeds through the aperture made by the 

 removal of the stalk. E. agreste {Momor- 

 dica Elaterium), the Squirting Cucumber, 

 a native of waste places in the south of 

 Europe, is an annual plant with prostrate 

 branching stems, and heart-shaped rough 

 leaves. The flowerstalks are axillary : the 

 male flowers in clusters with bell-shaped 

 yellow green-veined corollas ; the females 

 solitary. The fruit is a small elliptical 

 greenish gourd, covered with soft trian- 

 gular prickles. These fruits forcibly eject 

 their seeds, together with a mucilaginous 

 juice, a phenomenon said by Dutrochet to 

 be due to endosmosis. 



The drug known as Elaterium is the 

 dried precipitate that is deposited from the 

 juice which flows from the fruit or rather 

 from the pulp surrounding the seeds. So 

 powerful is pure elaterium, that one eighth 

 part of a grain is sufficient to produce 



strong cathartic effects : it is, however, 

 rarely obtained pure. It is of great value 

 in certain cases of dropsy and of cerebral 

 disease, where an active remedy is re- 

 quired; but as its action is violent it 



Ecbalium agreste. 



requires to be administered with great 

 caution, and in cases where there exists no 

 objection to its use. The active principle 

 of elaterium is a crystalline substance 

 called elaterin. The plant is grown for medi- 

 cinal purposes at Mitcham and elsewhere. 

 It is related of Dr. Dickson, who was 

 formerly lecturer on botany at St. George's 

 hospital, that he suffered severely from the 

 effects of this plant, in consequence of 

 having conveyed some specimens of it in 

 his hat from the Jardin des Plantes to his 

 lodgings in Paris. [M. T. MJ 



ECBLASTESIS. The production of buds 

 within flowers, in consequence of mon- 

 strous developement ; or on inflores- 

 cences. 



ECCREMOCARPUS. Handsome climb- 

 ing plants with a somewhat shrubby stem, 

 long succulent branches, much-divided 

 leaves, terminating in a branched tendril, 

 and tubular yellow or green flowers, which 

 are divided into five equal lobes. The sta- 

 mens are four, two longer than the others, 

 with the rudiment of a fifth. The seeds 

 are produced in a one-celled two-valved 

 ovate capsule, and are surrounded by a 

 membranous wing, on which account they 

 are favourite objects for microscopes of 

 low power. The genus belongs to the 

 Bignoniaceas. E. longiflorus has a red 

 calyx and a very long corolla with a yellow 

 tube and green limb. E. scaber, a hand- 

 some Chilian species with orange-coloured 

 flowers, much cultivated as an ornamental 

 creeper, is sometimes called Calampelis 

 scabra. [C. A. J.] 



ECHALOTTE." (Fr.) Allium ascaloni- 

 cum. 



E'CHARBOT. (Fr.) Trapa nutans. 



ECHE ANDIA. A genus of Liliacece, near- 



