ELYTJ 



{£!)£ Creature of 25atang. 



448 



whitish purple or orange flowers, which 

 are inserted in the rachis, and each fur- 

 nished with three bracts ; petals cohering 

 in a tube at the base ; stamens six. [J. T. SJ 



ELYTRARIA. A genus of Acanthacem, 



containing a few species scattered over the 

 tropical regions of America, Africa, and 

 India. They are stemless herbs, with 

 entire dentate or repand radical leaves and 

 small flowers. The calyx is four or five- 

 parted. The corolla is two-lipped or 

 ringent; there are two fertile and two 

 barren stamens, all included ; and the cap- 

 sule contains many pitted seeds in each 

 cell, attached to the placenta without any 

 retinacula. [W. C.J 



EMARCID. Flaccid, wilted. 

 EMARGINATE. Having a notch at the 

 end, as if a piece had been taken out. 



EMBELIA. A genus of Myrsinacece, 



| nearly allied to Mccsa, from which it differs 



i in its free ovary, and from the other genera 



in the family with free petals in its slender 



! racemes of flowers, which usually form a 



■ terminal panicle. It is composed of about 



! twenty species of straggling shrubs, found 



i in India and the islands of the Indian 



| Archipelago, and those to the east of 



Africa. The alternate stalked leaves ale 



lance-shaped, elliptical, or oval, furnished j 



: with transparent dots. The minute green, ! 



white, or pink flowers are borne in great j 



profusion, and arranged in simple or com- I 



pound racemes towards the ends of the i 



branches ; they have a five-parted calyx, 



five free spreading petals, opposite to ; 



which are five stamens, and an ovary i 



i crowned with a short style and rounded j 



stigma. The berries are minute, round, | 



and either red or black when ripe. Those j 



of E. Ribes, one of the most common Indian 



species, with ovate-lanceolate smooth 



leaves, are gathered and sold to traders, \ 



who use them for adulterating black pep- j 



per, which they somewhat resemble, and 



have, moreover, a slight pungency, owing 



to a resinous substance contained in them. 



They possess anthelmintic properties, and 



are ' sometimes given in infusion. E. 



Basaal, another Indian species with larger 



elliptical and more or less downy leaves, is 



useful in various ways. The young leaves 



in combination with ginger are used as a 



gargle in cases of sore throat ; the dried 



bark of the root is a reputed remedy for 



the toothache ; and the berries mixed with 



butter are used as an ointment, which is 



applied to the forehead as a specific for 



pleuritis. [A. A. B.] , 



EMBLICA. A genus of EupJwrbiacece, 

 differing only from Phyllanthus in the 

 more deeply divided style,' and in the 

 ! nature of the fruit, which is about the size 

 ! of a small gooseberry, with a fleshy outer 

 j covering, and a hard three-celled nut, which 

 splits when ripe into six portions, and con- 

 tains six seeds: the fruit of Phyllanthus 

 being usually a dry membranous capsule. E. 

 i officinalis, or, as it is sometimes called, 

 j PhyUanthusEmblieaAs the only epecies,and 



is found wild and cultivated in various 

 parts of India and the Indian Archipelago. 

 It is a tree sometimes of large growth, but 

 more generally of twenty to thirty feet, 

 with an abundance of simple alternate 

 linear leaves, which are smooth, and ar- 

 ranged on slender branches in a distichous 

 manner, so that they appear like leaflets of 

 pinnate leaves ; in their axils the little 

 green flowers are found in cymes, the 

 females mixed singly with the males. The 

 latter have a six-parted calyx, no petals, 

 six glands, and three to five stamens united 

 into a short column. The females, with a 

 similar calyx, have a cup-shaped disc, and 

 an ovary crowned with a style which has 

 three thick recurved two-lohed branches. 

 In Borneo, the bark and young shoots are 

 used to dye cotton black, for which pur- 

 pose they are boiled with alum. The fruits 

 are often made into a sweatmeat with 

 sugar, or eaten raw as a condiment, but 

 they are exceedingly acid. The wood is 

 hard and valuable, as it resists damp well. 

 In India the bark is used in tanning, and 

 the root-bark mixed with honey is applied 

 to inflammation of the mouth. The fruits 

 also are used as a pickle, or preserved in 

 sugar ; when ripe and dry they are given in 

 cholera, diarrhoea, &c, under the name 

 Myrobalani Emblici. The seeds are em- 

 ployed in nausea and bilious affections, and 

 given in infusion in fevers. An infusion 

 of the young leaves mixed with sour milk 

 is also used in dysentery. The natives 

 of Travancore have a notion that the plant 

 imparts a pleasant flavour to water, and 

 therefore place branches of the tree in 

 their wells, especially when the water is 

 charged with an accumulation of impure 

 vegetable matter. ■ [A. A. B.] 



EMBOLUS. A plug; a process which 

 projects downwards from the upper part 

 of the cavity of the ovary in Armeria, and 

 closes up the foramen of the ovule. 



EMBOTHRIUM. A small genus of Pro- 

 teacece, having an elongated tubular calyx, 

 bursting longitudinally, and a sub-globose 

 four-cleft limb bearing the anthers, which 

 are sessile, on the concave points of the 

 segments. The fruit is a leathery many- 

 "seeded follicle. They are trees or shrubs 

 with simple, oval or lanceolate entire 

 leaves, greyish on the under-side, and red 

 generally smooth flowers. They are found 

 in the Western and Antarctic portions of 

 South America. [R. H.] 



EMBRACING. Clasping with the base. 

 The same as Amplexicaul. 



EMBRYO (adj.EMBRYONAIA The rudi- 

 mentary plant, engendered within a seed 

 by the action of pollen. — FIXED. A 

 leaf bud. 



EMBRYO-BUDS. Spheroidal solid bodies, 

 of unknown origin, resembling woody 

 nodules, formed in the bark of trees, and 

 capable of extending into branches under 

 favourable circumstances. 



EMBRYOTEGIUM, EMBRYOTEGA. A 



little papilla, often separating as a lid, 



