ERINJ 



Wfyz Ereatfurg nfSSataitg. 



462 



cells and subjected to new conditions. II- ' 

 lustrations will be found in the works of 

 Corda and Greville, and a complete account ■ 

 in a work on the subject by Fee. [M. J. B.] 



ERINOSMA. A genus cf Amaryllidacece 

 containing the plant sometimes called Leu- 

 cojum vernum, an early spring-flowering 

 herb, with ovate bulbs, linear-lorate leaves, 

 and one-flowered scapes. The flowers are 

 fragrant, and differ from those of the snow- 

 drop in having petals like the sepals, 

 white.with a yellowish-green spot outside ; 

 and from those of the snowflake in hav- 

 ing a club-shaped style. [T. M.] 



ERINUS. Low herbaceous Alpine plants 

 belonging to the Scrophidariacere, distin- 

 guished by having a five-leaved calyx, a co- 

 rolla with a five-clef t equal limb, and short 

 reflexed upper lip, and a two-celled capsule. 

 They are pretty little plants, with tufted 

 foliage and simple racemes of purple or 

 yellow flowers, and are therefore desirable 

 for the decoration of rock work or old walls, 

 for which purpose no plants can be more 

 fitted, as they produce their numerous 

 blossoms during most of the summer 

 months The species most frequently cul- 

 tivated, is E. alpinus (French, Erine des 

 Alpes), a native of the European moun- 

 tains. E. hispanicus is smaller than the 

 preceding, and has downy leaves. [C. A. J.] 



ERIOBOTRYA. The Loquat, or Japanese 

 Medlar, E. japonica (Mespilus japonica of 

 Linna?us), one of the Pomacece, is a native 

 of Japan and the southern parts of China, 

 and is cultivated as an edible fruit in many 

 parts of India. It was first made known 

 to us by Krempfer, who saw it growing in 

 Japan, which he visited in 1690. It was 

 more fully described in 1712 by Thunberg, 

 who met with it growing near Nagasaki, 

 Yedo, and elsewhere commonly in Japan. 

 In that country it is called Bywa and 

 Kuskube, in China Lo-quat. It was brought 

 to Europe by the French in 1784, and 

 planted in the National Garden at Paris ; 

 and three years later it was imported from 

 Canton to Kew. 



The tree, according to Thunberg, attains 

 a large size in its native country. The 

 leaves are evergreen, large, oblong, rugose 

 like those of the medlar, bright green 

 above, somewhat downy beneath. The 

 flowers are produced in October and No- 

 vember, in spikes at the ends of the 

 branches ; their petals are like those of 

 the hawthorn, but larger and perfectly 

 white. The fruit is oval, of the size of 

 a small apple, pale orange with a faint 

 blush of red, the flesh pale yellow, with a 

 sharp subacid flavour resembling that of 

 an apple. It ripens in spring, or early in 

 summer. The tree is hardy enough to bear 

 the cold of our ordinary winters, but it 

 has been killed when exposed to frosts of 

 unusual severity, such as that which oc- 

 curred in 1814, 1838, and 1860. We are not 

 aware of its having fruited in this country 

 except under glass, and with the aid of 

 artificial heat. It has not fruited at Paris 

 in the open air ; but it is successfully cul- 



tivated as a standard in the south of 

 France, and its fruit is even common in 

 the markets of Hyeres and Toulon. At 

 Malta it succeeds admirably. Improved 

 varieties, as regards the size and quality 

 of the fruit, have been there raised, and 

 introduced into England ; but in conse- 

 quence, of the tree naturally producing its 

 flowers at the commencement of winter, 

 it is not adapted for bearing fruit in the 

 open air in this country, the blossoms 

 being either cut off by frost, or so much 

 checked by cold that the growth of the 

 embryo fruit cannot go on. There is, 

 however, no difficulty in fruiting it under 

 glass. This was done at Blithfield in 

 Staffordshire in 1818 ; and an account of 

 the means adopted is given by Lord Bagot 

 in the Transactions of the Horticultural 

 Society (iii. 299) accompanied by a coloured 

 plate. The plant was fruited in a pot kept 

 in a stove during winter, the fruit ripen- 

 ing in March or April, two months earlier 

 than its period of ripening in its native 

 country. We may therefore conclude, that 

 the amount of heat to which the plant was 

 subjected in the stove was greater than 

 that which prevails between the time of 

 flowering and the ripening of the fruit in 

 Japan. It appears, however, that the fruit 

 artificially produced at Blithfield was of 

 excellent quality. [R. T.] 



ERIC-CAUL ACE^l. (Pipeworts). A natu- 

 ral order of incomplete monocotyledons 

 included in Lindley's glumal alliance 

 among the Endogens. Marsh plants, with 

 narrow cellular spongy leaves, sheathingat 

 the base, and a capitateinfiorescence. The 

 flowers are very minute, some having 

 stamens, others pistils. Glumes two to 

 three. Ovary superior, three, rarely two- 

 celled? surrounded by a membranous tube ; 

 ovules solitary, orthotropal ; style very 

 short ; stamens two or three. Capsule with 

 loculicidal dehiscence ; seeds solitary, pen- 

 dulous, with a winged or hairy covering 

 The species abound in South America, and 

 some plants of the order are found in 

 North America and Australia. 



There are ten knoMm genera and upwards 

 of two hundred and twenty species. Ex- 

 amples : Eriocaulon, Lachnocaulon, Clnclo- 

 caulon, Philodice. [J. H. B.] 



ERIOCAULON. The typical genus of 

 Eriocaulacece. The name is derived from 

 two Greek words, meaning 'wool' and 

 'stem,' on account of the woolly character of 

 the stalks of some of the species. Flowers 

 j dioecious, in a compact scaly head, the 

 ! staminate ones in the centre, and the 

 pistillate ones in the circumference of the 

 head. The species are found in the prin- 

 cipal parts of Asia, America, and New 

 Holland. They are rare in North America. 

 One species, E. septangular e, occurs in Bri- 

 tain, being found in the Isle of Skye and in 

 Galway. One hundred species have been 

 described. Some of those found in Brazil 



attain a height of six feet. 



[J. H. B.] 



I ERIOCEPHALUS. A genus of S.African 

 I Compositx, comprising nearly twenty spe- 



