455 



Zfyz Erra^ttri? of 2S0tang. 



[epijl 



is hornless, and considerably elongated, 

 but not petaloid and winged; in the pollen 

 masses being four, equal, compressed, with 

 as many pulverulent caudicles folded back 

 on them ; and finally, in the presence of a 

 cuniculus more or less deep at the base of 

 the lip. E. nemorale, often miscalled verru- 

 cosum, is one of the handsomest in cultiva- 

 tion. It is a Mexican plant, with ovate 

 pseudo-bulbs bearing two glossy strap- 

 shaped leaves, and panicles of handsome 

 rosy flowers, each about one and a half 

 inch across, the lip streaked with lines of a 

 darker colour ; it takes its name from the 

 minute rough points on the branches of the 

 panicle. Similar in size and colouring of 

 flower is E. Skinneri from Guatemala, but 

 it has elongated stems, the flowers arranged 

 in drooping terminal racemes, and the lip 

 with three yellow crests. Perhaps the most 

 desirable species is the Mexican E. vitelli- 

 7nn;i,from its brilliant deep orange-coloured 

 and long-enduring flowers : it has oblong 

 pseudo bulbs with two short leaves, and a 

 flower scape six to twelve inches high, the 

 individual flowers about an inch in length. 

 Then we have E. cuspidatum, notable for its 

 very large yellow flowers, with a curious tri- 

 lobed lip, the central lobe linear, and the 

 two lateral crescent-shaped with beautifully 

 fringed borders. To the same group belong 

 E. ciliare and E. noctvmum, the first smaller 

 in all its parts, with greenish flowers, the 

 latter destitute of the fringe to the lip, and 

 emitting a very agreeable odour in the even- 

 ing. The singular colouring of the flowers 

 in E. prismatocarpum renders it attractive, 

 the ground colour being yellow-green with 

 many dark purple blotches across the sepals 

 and petals, and the lip pink. It has ovate 

 pseudo-bulbs with a leathery strap-shaped 

 leaf a foot long, and the flowers are in 

 many-flowered scapes. A. A- BJ 



EPI D'EATJ. (Fr.) Potamogeton. — ,DE 

 LAIT or DE LA VIERGE. Ornithogalum 

 pyramidale. — DE VENT. Agrostis Spica- 

 venti. —, FLEURI. Stachys. 



EPIDERMIS. The true skin of a plant 

 below the cuticle. 



EPIDERMOID. Of or belonging to the 

 skin. 



EPIG.EA. The generic name of shrubs 

 of the heathwort order, characterised by 

 having three leaflets on the outside of the 

 five-parted calyx ; and by the corolla being 

 salver-shaped, five-cleft, with its tube hairy 

 on the inside. The name, derived from 

 Greek words signifying ' upon the earth,' is 

 sufficiently expressive of the mode of 

 growth or trailing habit of the species. One 

 of them, E. repens, a native of North Ame- 

 rica, has been long known in cultivation ; it 

 is an ornamental procumbent shrub, with 

 frasrant flowers, usually white with a red- 

 dish tinge. [G. D.] 



EPIGENOFS. Growing upon the surface 

 of a part, as many fungals on the surface 

 of leaves. 



EPIGEOUS. Growing close upon the 

 earth. 



EPIGONE. The membranous bag or 

 flask which incloses the spore-case of a 

 liverwort or scale-moss when young. Also 

 the nucule of a Cham. 



EPIGYNIUM. East Indian shrubs, so 

 named, in consequence of the disc which 

 surmounts the ovary. They constitute a 

 genus of Vacciniacece, known by their five- 

 parted flowers, bell-shaped or cup-shaped 

 corolla, ten separate stamens, and five- 

 celled ovary containing many ovules, and 

 surmounted by a five-lobed disc, as well as 



^^ 



Epigynium leucobotrys. 



by the limb of the calyx. The fruit is suc- 

 culent. E. acuminatum, a greenhouse 

 shrub, has racemes of richly-coloured red 

 flowers. E. leucobotrys, another species in 

 cultivation, has a tuberous root likeayam, 

 and the berries are white and wax-like ; 

 hence the name. [M. T. M.J 



EPIGYNOUS. Upon the ovary ; a term 

 applied when the outer whorls of the 

 flower adhere to the ovary, so that their 

 upper portions alone are free and appear 

 to be seated on it, as in umbellifers, 



lyrtals, campanals, &c. 



EPILEPIS. A genus of the composite 

 family allied to Coreopsis, but differing in j 

 having applied to the outer surface of each | 

 wingless achene a three-toothed chaffy 

 scale. The only known species, E. rudis, 

 is an erect hispid Mexican herb with 

 opposite pinnatisect leaves, whose stems 

 are terminated by a corymb of numerous 

 yellow-rayed flower-heads, each about an 

 inch across ; these have an involucre of 

 two series of scales, neuter ray-florets, 

 those of the disc tubular and perfect. The 

 compressed achenes crowned with two 

 short awns.! [A. A.B.] 



EPILINELLA. A section of Cuscuta, 

 containing those in which the calyx con- 

 sists of five fleshy sepals, keeled on the 

 back, and with membranaceous margins 



