esca] 



STtje Crea£ttrp af SSotattji. 



470 



occupation, whether employed in the 

 mines, the fields, as a muleteer, or do- 

 mestic servant, the Indian resigns him- 

 self to the pleasures of Coca chewing, 

 mixing the leaves with lime or the ashes 

 of Cecropia. "When used in moderation 

 Coca exerts a pleasurable influence upon 

 the imagination, and induces a forgetful- 

 ness of all care; it is also a powerful 

 stimulant of thenervous system, and when 

 under its influence Indians are able to per- 

 form long and rapid journeys, and carry 

 heavy loads, without requiring any other 

 sustenance. But when taken in excess it 

 produces intoxication, of a character re- 

 sembling that of opium rather than alco- 

 hol, but not so violent, although the con- 

 sequences of its prolonged use are quite 

 as injurious, and very few of those who 

 become slaves to the habit attain an old 



Erythroxylon Coca. 



Spruce says that an Indian, with a chew of 

 Spadic in his cheek, will go two to three 

 days without food, and without feeling any 

 desire to sleep. [A. S.] 



ESCALLONIACEiE. (Carpodetece, Escal- 

 loniads.) A natural order of calycifloral di- 

 cotyledons ""belonging to Lindley's grossal 

 alliance of epigynous Exogens. Evergreen 

 shrubs, often odoriferous, with alternate 

 exstipulate leaves, and axillary conspicuous 

 flowers. Calyx superior, five-toothed ; co- 

 rolla of five petals, alternate with the divi- 

 sions of the calyx, aestivation' imbricated ; 

 stamens five, attached to the calyx, and al- 

 ternating with the petals. Ovary inferior, 

 two to five-celled, with a large central pla- 

 centa and numerous ovules ; style simple, 

 surrounded at the base by an epigynous 

 disk ; stigma two to five-lobed. Fruit a 

 capsule or berry crowned by the persistent 

 calyx and style: seeds minute with oily 

 albumen. The order is allied to the goose- 

 berry family, and some think that it has 

 an affinity to saxifrages. The species are 

 natives chiefly of South America ; but 

 some are found in the southern parts of 



Australia and New Zealand. On the moun- 

 tains of South America they grow at an 

 elevation varying from 6,600 to 14,760 feet, 

 and form a marked region of vegetation. 

 There are seven known genera and about 

 sixty species. Examples : Escallonia, Itea, 

 and Carpodetus. [J. H. B.] 



ESCALLONIA. A genus of Escallonia- 

 cece, named in honour of a Spanish travel- 

 ler, the companion and friend of the bo- 

 tanist Mutis. It consists of trees or shrubs, 

 natives of South America, Chili, &c. They 

 have simple leaves, covered with resinous 

 dots; flowers variously arranged, white, 

 pink, or red, with five-parted whorls ; and 

 petals and stamens attached to the margin 

 of a cup-like disc which surmounts the 

 ovary. The fruit is a capsule. Several 

 species are in cultivation as greenhouse or 

 half-hardy shrubs. E. rubra has tubular 

 red flowers, and is very handsome when 

 trained against a wall. E. macrantha is 

 even more beautiful. [M. T. M.] 



ESCARIOLE, or SCAROLE. (Fr.) Ci- 

 chorium Endivia latifolia. 



ESCENS. A termination equivalent to 

 the English ish; thus, rubescems = reddis7i. 



ESCHERIA. A synonym of Salisia, a 

 genus of gesnerads, of which Gloxinia 

 maculata is the type. 



ESCHSCHOLTZIA. A Calif ornian genus 

 of herbaceous plants belonging to the Pa- 

 paveracew, distinguished by its singular 

 calyx, which, unlike that of the true pop- 

 pies, is lifted off in one piece by the ex- 

 panding petals instead of separating into 

 two sepals. The petals are four in number, 

 and the seed-vessel resembles the silique 

 of the cruciferous order, being two-valved 

 and bearing the seeds on the edges of the 

 valves. There are several species or va- 

 rieties, all from California, E. californica, 

 the best known, is a large bushy herb 

 with straggling branches, which, aswellas 

 the finely divided leaves, are very glaucous. 

 The flowers are large, bright yellow, saf- 

 fron-coloured in the centre, and expand 

 only in the sunshine. It is a perennial, 

 but in British gardens is mostly treated as 

 an annual, as it flowers the first year and 

 sows itself freely. E. crocea, with saffron- 

 coloured flowers, and E. compacta, of a less 

 strangling habit, are probably mere va- 

 rieties. [C. A. J.] 



ESCHWEILERA. A genus of Brazilian 

 trees, belonging to the Lecytliidacece, and 

 only differing from Lecytlris in the limb of 

 the calyx being bent backwards so as to 

 touch the tube. [M. T. M.] 



ESCOBEDIA. A genus of Scrophularia- 

 cece, consisting of two South American or 

 Mexican species, erect stiff nearly simple 

 herbs, very rough to the touch, with oppo- 

 site entire or toothed leaves, and large 

 white flowers, nearly sessile in the upper 

 axils. The calyx is long, tubular, and her- 

 baceous ; the corolla-tube very long, with 

 a broad spreading limb ; the capsule is 

 two-valved, included in the persistent 



