ECHl] 



Ei)e Creagurg af botany. 



440 



greatest numbers in Asia Minor. Some 

 are annuals, but most of them are biennial 

 or perennial erect simple or branching 

 herbs from two to six feet or more high, 

 furnished with large thistle-like spiny 

 leaves, once, twice, or thrice pinnately- 

 parted, the lower surface usually covered, 

 like the stems, with loose white wool. 

 The flowers are white or pale blue, and 

 the compound heads one to three inches 

 in diameter, surrounded by a common 

 involucre of narrow scales, while each 

 separate single-flowered head has an in- 

 volucre of numerous scales, the outer 

 hair-like, the inner broader and spiny- 

 pointed. The silky cylindrical achenes are 

 crowned with a pappus of numerous short 

 bristles. E. strigosiis, an annual species, 

 native of Spain, is said to yield the sub- 

 stance known as Spanish tinder. Three 

 sorts of it are prepared, one from the pu- 

 bescence of the flower-heads, another from 

 that of the leaves, and a third from that 

 of the stems. [A. A. BJ 



ECHINOPSIS. A genus of Indian figs, 

 formerly combined with Echinocactus, but 

 now separated and placed with the Cereidce, 

 distinguished by the flowers being pro- 

 duced from the side of the stem, instead 

 of at the top, as in the Echinocactidce. 

 They have fleshy stems of a flattened 

 globular or cylindrical form, divided into 

 numerous ridges, which either run unin- 

 terruptedly from the apex to the base and 

 bear clusters of spines at intervals, or are 

 waved or notched, and have the spines 

 placed in the depressions. In some species 

 the spines are of great length. The flowers 

 are very large, and in many species exceed- 

 ingly handsome, forming a striking con- 

 trast with the ungainly appearance of the 

 plants themselves : they have a very long 

 tube, more or less covered with bristly or 

 hairy scales, which increase in size towards 

 the upper end of the tube, and at length 

 merge into sepals, the sepals in their turn 

 passing into petals. The stamens are 

 arranged in two series, the inner attached 

 to the bottom of the tube, and the outer 

 growing to the tube throughout its whole 

 length, and becoming free at the orifice, 

 forming a circle around, it. The thread- 

 like style, scarcely longer than the sta- 

 mens, is surmounted by a many-rayed 

 stigma. Between twenty and thirty spe- 

 cies, natives of Bolivia, Chili, Mexico, 

 Brazil, and Texas, are described. [A. S.] 



ECHINOPTERYS. The name of a Mexi- 

 can shrub, constituting a genus of Malpi- 

 ghiaeece, with yellow flowers in terminal 

 clusters, aud which are jointed to the 

 stalks supporting them. The calyx is 

 without glands; the petals five, stalked, 

 of unequal length ; stamens ten, all fertile, 

 the filaments united into a tube at the 

 base, the anthers hairy ; ovary three-lobed, 

 densely hairy. The fruit consists of three 

 indehi scent spiny carpels. [M. T. M.] 



ECHINOSPERMUM. A genus of Bora- 

 ginac£w, distinguished by having a salver- 

 shaped corolla, which has the throat closed i 



by five small scales ; and three-edged nuts, 

 with the anterior face margined and often 

 bordered with one or more rows of hooked 

 prickles ; and by the inner angle of each of 

 the four carpels adhering by its whole 

 extent to a central column. They are 

 hairy herbs resembling Myosotis, with 

 narrow leaves and small blue flowers, in 

 bracteated scorpioid racemes. The species 

 are most abundant in the temperate re- 

 gions of the northern hemisphere. E. 

 Lappula, which is one of the erect-fruited 

 species, has been found in England at 

 Southwold, but doubtless an accidental 

 introduction. [J. T. S.] 



ECHIUM. A genus of Boraginacece, 

 distinguished by its tubular bell-shaped 

 corolla, open at the throat (without scales 

 or plaits), and with an irregular limb, 

 bearing some resemblance to that of some 

 of the labiates. They are bristly or hairy 

 plants, generally distributed, especially 

 abundant in the Mediterranean region, 

 where most of the species are herbaceous, 

 and in the Canaries, where the greater 

 number are shrubby. The flowers are 

 usually large, in small curled spikes, ar- 

 ranged in a compound spike or panicle. 

 E.vulgare, the common Viper's Bugloss, isa 

 very rough plant with strap-shaped leaves, 

 narrow at the base, and bright blue 

 flowers whose stamens exceed the corolla : 

 this occurs throughout Britain. E. viola- 

 ceum is not found in Britain proper, but is 

 common in Jersey ; its flowers are much 

 larger, more purple, with shorter stamens, 

 and the leaves clasp the stem by a broad 

 base. [J. T. S.] 



ECLAIRE, or ECLAIRE GRANDE. 

 (Fr.) Chelidonium majus. — PETITE, or 

 ECLAIRETTE. (Fr.) Ranunculus Fica- 

 ria. 



ECLIPTA. A genus of erect or pros- 

 trate annual or biennial weeds of the 

 composite family, approaching dahlias in 

 the structure of their flowers, but widely 

 different in habit, and pretty equally dis- 

 tributed over all tropical countries. The 

 leaves are usually opposite and lance- 

 shaped, with entire or toothed margins, 

 and the white stalked flower-heads, grow- 

 ing one to three together, proceed from the 

 axils of the leaves, and are about half an 

 inch across. The receptacle is flat and 

 furnished with bristle-like scales, between 

 the florets. The achenes of the ray-florets 

 are triangular, those of the disc com- 

 pressed ; and the pappus is either absent 

 altogether, or when present reduced to a 

 minute toothed border. [A. A. B.] 



ECOSTATE. Not having a central or 

 strongly-marked rib or costa. 



ECTADIUM. A genus of South African 

 Asclepiadacece, containing a single species, 

 an undershrub with opposite coriaceous 

 leaves, and small yellow flowers in sub- 

 axillary racemes. The calyx is five-parted ; 

 the corolla salver-shared with five oblong 

 unequal lobes ; the staminal crown of five 

 lanceolate included scales ; the stamens in- 



