eper] 



Efye ErsajSurg of 280tang. 



454 



EPERVIERE. (Fr.) Hieracium. — 

 ORANGEE. Hieracium aurantiacum. 



EPHEBE. A curious and anomalous 

 genus proposed by Pries, which, after oscil- 

 lating between lichens and sea-weeds, was 

 for a time joined with Byssoidece, but 

 whose real affinities were quite unin- 

 telligible till the discovery of the fructifi- 

 cation, which clearly places it in close con- 

 junction with Lichina and its near allies. 

 The frond consists of branched threads 

 composed when young principally of large 

 brownish cells more or less perfectly dis- 

 posed in transverse rows, and often divided 

 vertically or horizontally into four. In 

 this condition it seems to indicate an 

 intimate relation with the algal genus 

 Scytonema. In older branches, however, 

 there is a distinct cellular tissue both 

 external and within the layer of large 

 cells, and towards the extremities the 

 branchlets swell and contain nuclei, like 

 those of Dothidea, filled with a gelatinous 

 mass consisting of fertile asci, each of 

 which contains eight sporidia, while in 

 other similar swellings nuclei are produced 

 whose gelatinous contents produce myriads 

 of granules, supposed to be the male fruit 

 of the plant. The plant is therefore 

 clearly a lichen, allied to Collema and 

 Lichina, receding from the common type 

 in the nature of its gonidia, which depart 

 from the usual green tint, and seem to be 

 propagated like such genera as Hcematococ- 

 eus. The species, which are not nume- 

 rous, occur on irrigated rocks and stones. 

 They are, as known at present, confined to 

 the temperate regions of the northern 

 hemisphere. [M. J. B.] 



EPHEDRA. A genus of Gnetacew. 

 The plants have stamens and pistils in 

 separate flowers : the staminate flowers in 

 catkins and with a membranaceous peri- 

 anth ; the pistillate flowers terminal on 

 axillary stalks, within a two-leaved invo- 

 lucre. The fruit is a succulent cone, formed 

 of two carpels, with a single seed in each. 

 They are branching shrubs, natives of the 

 sandy sea shores of temperate climates in 

 both hemispheres. The branches are 

 slender, erect or pendulous; leaves very 

 small, scale-like, articulated and united 

 into a sheath at the base. There are 

 twenty-five known species. E. distachya 

 abounds in the southern parts of Russia ; 

 its fruit is eaten by the peasants and by 

 the wandering hordes of Great Tartary. 

 The branches and flowers of some of the 

 Ephedras have been used to stop bleedings 

 and discharges. [J. H. B.] 



EPHEMEBINE. (Fr.) Tradescantia. 



EPHEMERUM. Tradescantia. 



EPHEMERUS. Enduring but a day. 



EPHIPPITTM. A name applied by Blume 

 to certain epiphytal orchids now referred 

 to various genera, such as Bolbopliyllum, 

 Sarcopodium, and Cirrhopetalum. The 

 most notable species is Sarcopodium gran- 

 diflorum from New Guinea, which has 

 creeping wiry stems with four-sided pseu- 



do bulbs at intervals, and a solitary flower 

 and leaf ; the flower, borne on a stalk, is 

 said to be eight inches across, and of apale 

 yellowish-green colour. [A. A. BJ 



EPI. In Greek compounds = upon. 



EPIAIRE. (Fr.) Stachys. — , GRANDE. 

 Stachys sylvatica. 



EPIBLAST. A small transverse plate 

 fa second cotyledon), found on the embryo 

 of some grasses. 



EPIBLEMA. An epidermis consisting of 

 thick-sided flattened cells. 



EPIBLEMA grandiflorum is a terres- 

 trial tuberous rooted orchid of "W. Austra- 

 lia, with a slender erect stem eighteen 

 inches high, bearing a single grassy leaf 

 with a few sheathing bracts, and terminat- 

 ing in a raceme of from one to five pretty 

 blue flowers, each about an inch across. 

 According to Dr. Lindley, the genus, which 

 belongs to the tribe Neottea?, differs from 

 Thelymitra, of which it has the habit, not 

 only in the clawed lip with long slender 

 processes at the base, but also in the anther 

 bed not being cucullate. [A. A. BJ 



EPICAL YX. The involucellum, or ex- 

 ternal series of envelopes beyond the calyx, 

 as in Malva. 



EPICARP. The outermost layer of the 

 pericarp, corresponding with the under 

 side of the carpellary leaf. 



EPICEA. (Fr.) Abies excelsa. 



EPICHARIS. A genus of Meliacece, com- 

 prising certain trees, natives of the Mo- 

 lucca Islands, which, added to the general 

 characteristics of the order to which they 

 belong, present the following distinguish- 

 ing features: corolla of four spreading 

 or reflected petals ; stamens eight, their 

 filaments united so as to form a tube, the 

 upper margin of which is divided into 

 eight notched lobes, and encloses the an- 

 thers; ovary sessile, four-celled, enclosed 

 within the tube of the stamens. Fruit a 

 capsule bursting by two or four divisions, 

 each compartment containing a single seed 

 provided with a fleshy arillus. [M. T. M.] 



EPICHILE. The upper half of the lip 

 of an orchid, when that organ is once joint- 

 ed or strangulated. 



EPICLINAL. Placed upon the disk or 

 receptacle of a flower. 



EPIDENDRTJM. A vast genus of South 

 American orchids, numbering more than 

 300 species, and exhibiting great diversity 

 of growth. They are mostly epiphytes on 

 trees, whence the generic name, though 

 not a few are terrestrial. The stems are 

 elongated and leafy in some, and reduced 

 to a pseudo-bulb in others; the leaves are 

 leathery in texture and usually strap-shap- 

 ed ; and the flowers are either solitary or 

 disposed in axillary or terminal spikes, ra- 

 cemes, or panicles. According to Dr. Lind- 

 ley, the essential character of the genus re- 

 sides in the lip being more or less united hy 

 base to the edge of a column, which 



