ERYT 



Ef)£ Erta^urjj at 23otang» 



468 



a much branched cyme. This plant varies 

 very much in the size of the flowers, the 

 size of the leaves, and the degree of branch- 

 ing, so that it may be found as a simple 

 stem half an inch high, with only a single 

 flower, or one or two feet in height, with 

 very numerous blossoms : hence some 

 of the more marked varieties have been 

 considered to form distinct species. The 

 plant partakes of the bitter qualities of the 

 order, and might be used in place of gentian. 

 Besides the English species, others from 

 the south of Europe, the Azores, &c, with 

 yellow or pink flowers, are occasionally 

 grown in gardens. [M. T. M.] 



ERYTHRINA. A genus of handsome j 

 leguminous trees or shrubs, popularly j 

 known as Coral trees. They are pretty j 

 generally distributed through the tropics 

 of both hemispheres. Some attain great 

 dimensions, while others are dwarf bushes 

 with woody rootstocks; a few have the 

 stems and leaf-stalks beset with prickles. 

 The leaves are trifoliate, with long stalks, 

 the leaflets oval lanceolate elliptical or 

 triangular. Many of the species are culti- 

 vated in hothouses for the sake of their 

 beautiful large generally blood-red pea- ! 

 flowers, which are arranged in terminal j 

 racemes. In some species the tubular | 

 calyx is two-lipped or equally five-toothed, j 

 the petals all narrow, and nearly of equal 

 length, while the keel is composed of two i 

 distinct petals. Some botanists consider 

 that these alone should form the genus j 

 Erythrina. The name Chirocalyx is given ' 

 by some authors to a few species in which 

 the calyx is sheath-like, split above, and 

 flve-toothed at the apex ; in a third group, 

 called Di(cl/nsstii-)i(iia, the keel is of one 

 petal, bifid at the point, and is equal in 

 length to the wings, which are about twice 

 as long as the calyx, while the erect stan- 

 dard is broad, generally oval, and narrowed 

 below into a claw ; while in a fourth group, 

 called Micropteryx, the keel is also of one 

 petal beaked at the point, but the wings 

 are small, generally scale-like, and included 

 in the calyx. The pods in most species are 

 long, narrow, round, and constricted be- 

 tween the seeds, which are often bright red 

 with a black spot, and about the size of a pea. 

 These hard red seeds are frequently strung 

 into necklaces. The Amasisa of Peru, E. 

 Amasisa, is the only species whose pods 

 split when ripe. This plant is described by 

 its discoverer, Mr. Spruce, as one of the 

 most beautiful trees of the country, attain- 

 ing a height of 100 feet, and clad in spring 

 and autumn with large flame-coloured or 

 vermilion flowers. [A. A. B.] 



E. Caffra, the Kafflrboom of the Dutch, 

 or Kaffir's tree, is a native of South Africa, 

 where it forms a tree fifty or sixty feet in 

 height. Its trunks are commonly hollow- 

 ed out and made into water-troughs and 

 canoes. The wood is soft, but is said to be 

 durable when tarred ; and it is so light 

 that it is used as a substitute for cork for 

 floating fishing nets. E. indica, a small 

 tree, native of the East Indies, growing 

 about thirty feet high, is commonly cul- 



tivated in India and the Malayan penin" 

 sula and islands, for supporting the weak 

 stems of the pepper plant, for which pur- 

 pose it is kept dwarf. It affords a very 

 soft porous wood, greatly used in India for 

 making toys, light boxes, and similar 

 articles, which are usually overlaid with a 

 thick coating of varnish or lacquer. In 

 Ceylon the young tender leaves are eaten 

 in curries. E. umbrosa, which attains a 

 height of fifty or sixty feet, is a native of 

 tropical South America, and is commonly 

 cultivated there, as well as in some of the 

 West India Islands, for the purpose of 

 protecting the cocoa plantations from the 

 effects of high winds, and at the same time 

 to induce a proper degree of moisture in 

 their neighbourhood. [A. S.] 



ERYTHRINE. A colouring matter found 

 in lichens. 



ERYTHROCHITON. A small Brazilian 

 rutaceous tree with long alternate simple J 

 fragrant leaves, and flowers placed on I 

 short jointed stalks arising from the leaf I 

 axils, in groups of two or more ; the calyx I 

 is red, large, tubular; the corolla white, I 

 salver-shaped. [M.T. M.] I 



ERYTHROCOCCA. A genus of Euphor- 

 biacece, composed of a single W. African 

 species, E. aculeata, a smooth low shrub 

 with stalked oval leaves, having short 

 straight prickles in their axils (prickly 

 plants are rare in the family), and little 

 fascicles of minute green flowers, the males 

 and females on different plants, both hav- 

 ing a three-parted calyx. The ripe fruits, 

 about the size of a peppercorn, are of an 

 intense scarlet colour. [A. A. BJ 



ERYTHROLiENA. A genus of Compo- 

 site found in Mexico, represented by a 

 single species, E. conspicua, which was in- 

 troduced to English gardens about 1838, 

 and is commonly known as the Scarlet 

 Mexican Thistle. It is a tall plant eight 

 to ten feet high, with rigid leaves, some- 

 what like those of a common wayside 

 thistle : those at the base of the stem 

 pinnatifid, with cut and spiny-pointed 

 segments, and about two feet long; the 

 stem-leaves smaller, lanceolate, with spiny 

 teeth, and all more or less downy under- 

 neath. The flower-heads, clustered at the 

 ends of the branches, are about three 

 inches long, and very handsome, because 

 of their scarlet involucral scales. The 

 florets are all tubular, yellow, and per- 

 fect; and the smooth achenesare crowned 

 with a feathery pappus. [A. A. B.] 



ERYTHRONIUM. A genus of Liliacece, 

 consisting of nearly stemless herbs, with 

 a long narrow solid scaled bulb, and two 

 very smooth elliptical leaves usually spot- 

 ted with purple. The scape is one-flowered ; 

 the flower large, nodding, lily-like, with 

 the perianth of six separate portions, bell- 

 shaped or recurved, the three inner seg- 

 ments furnished with a callous tooth on 

 each side. 



The common Dog's-tooth violet, E. Bens 

 cants, has purple flowers ; it is a native of 



