eust] 



Elje &rea£ur£) of f&ataiw, 



480 



are a good deal like those of the elder ; 

 and so also are the little white or yellowish 

 flowers, which are numerous and disposed 

 in terminal panicles. According to Sie- 

 holt, the plant is a favourite in Japanese 

 gardens from its neat habit and its pretty 

 bladdery fruits, which are of a red colour 

 when ripe, and remain on the bush till 

 winter approaches. It is prized also for 

 its medical properties. The inner bark of 

 the root is bitter and astringent, and is 

 given in infusion in cases of dysentery 

 and chronic diarrhoea. The leaves are not 

 so efficacious, and have when fresh a dis- 

 agreeable fishy smell. The name of the 

 genus has reference to the pretty fruits, 

 which open along the inner surface into 

 the form of a little boat. [A. A. BJ 



EUSTACHYS. A genus of grasses be- 

 longing to the tribe Chloridece; now in- 

 cluded in Chloris. [D. M.] 



EUSTEGIA. A genus of South African 

 Asclepiadacece, containing a few species of 

 decumbent branching perennial herbs,'with 

 opposite hastate leaves, and sub-umbellate 

 flowers, the calyx of which is five-parted, 

 and the corolla rotate and five-cleft, with a 

 triple stamina! crown : the divisions of the 

 two inner whorls of the latter alternating 

 with the lobes of the outer whorl and with 

 the anthers. [W. C] 



EUSTIGMA oblongifolium. A small tree 

 of South China, forming a genus cf Hama- 

 melidecB, distinguished chiefly by its long 

 broad flat stigmas. The flowers are in 

 small loose heads, without any petals ex- 

 cept five small gland-like scales, and have 

 five stamens, with obtuse two-valved an- 

 thers, and a half-inferior ovary. 



EUSTOMA. A gentianaceous annual 

 plant, native of North America, the flowers 

 of which are white, with a deeply five- 

 cleft calyx, a funnel-shaped corolla, with 

 a contracted tube into the middle of 

 which the stamens are inserted, and a 

 large two-lobed stigma. [M. T. MJ 



ETTSTREPHUS. A genus of Liliacece, 

 consisting of twining woody-stemmed 

 plants, from the warmer parts of Austra- 

 lia, with elliptical or lanceolate leaves, and 

 aggregate, pedicellate flowers, from the 

 axils of the leaves and the end of the stem. 

 The flowers are purplish, with a six-parted 

 spreading perianth, the inner divisions 

 fringed. [J.T. S.] 



ETJTASSA. A genus of coniferous 

 plants, sometimes considered as a section 

 of Araucaria, and including those species 

 which have been called needle-leaved, 

 such as A. excelsa, Cunninghami, and 

 Cookii. [See Araucaria.] The species in- 

 cluded under Eutassa are found in Austra- 

 lia, as at Norfolk Island, Moreton Bay, 

 New Holland, and New Caledonia. As a 

 sub-genus of Araucaria, sometimes called 

 Eutacta,it is thus defined: scales of the 

 cone broadly winged; a distinct basilar 

 appendage to The seed ; anthers six to 

 ten-celled ; cotyledons four. [J. H. B.] 



EUTAXIA. A genus of pretty legumi- 

 nous bushes found in Australia, but chiefly 

 confined to the western portions. There 

 are about a dozen species. They have 

 much the appearance of Pultencea or Dill- 

 wynia, so well known as greenhouse 

 plants, and differ from the former in the 

 standard being about as broad as it is long, 

 not broader ; from the latter in the wings 

 being shorter than the keel, not equal to 

 it in length ; and from both in having op- 

 posite leaves. They are for the most part 

 much-branched low-growing bushes, with 

 small often heath-like leaves, and axillary 

 golden-yellow pea-flowers, two or three to- 

 gether. E. myrtifolia is a well-known 

 greenhouse plant, whose slender stems 

 are often seen thickly covered in the 

 spring and summer months with the 

 pretty yellow blossoms. [A. A. B.] 



EUTERPE. A genus of palms of ex- 

 tremely graceful habit, having slender 

 almost cylindrical stems, sometimes neai'ly 

 a hundred feet in height, surmounted by a 

 tuft of pinnate leaves, the leaflets of which 

 are narrow, very regular and close together, 

 and generally hang downwards. The bases 

 of the leaf-stalks are dilated, and form 

 cylindrical sheaths round a considerable 

 portion of the upper part of th e stem, gi ving 

 it a woollen appearance. Ten species are 

 known, all natives of the forests of tropical 

 South America, where they grow together 

 in large masses ; some inhabiting moist 

 swampy places on the banks of rivers, and 

 others extending a considerable height up 

 the sides of mountains. Their fiower-spikes, 

 which grow out horizontally from the 

 stem below the swelling of the leaf -stalks, 

 are simply branched, and the flowers are 

 seated in little furrows upon the branches, 

 with bracts at their base: the males 

 and females being in pairs on the lower 

 parts of the branches, while the males are 

 most numerous on the upper parts. The 

 fruits are of a dark purple colour, with a 

 thin fibrous fleshy rind, enclosing a single 

 seed. 

 , E. edulis, the Assai Palm of Para, grows 

 tin swampy places, particularly upon the 

 banks of rivers within the tidal limits, 

 where it attains a height of thirty or forty 

 feet, and has a stem about as thick as a 

 man's arm, slightly bulged out at the base, 

 and generally curved or leaning over. Its 

 fruit, which resembles a sloe in size and 

 colour,has a thin coating of clotted fibrous 

 flesh, from which .the inhabitants of Para 

 manufacture a beverage called Assai. This 

 is prepared by throwing the ripe fruits into 

 a vessel containing warm water, and allow- 

 ing them to soak for about an hour, and 

 then, the water being partly poured off, 

 kneading them thoroughly with the hands, 

 fresh cold water being occasionally added, 

 until all the pulp is detached, when the 

 liquid is separated by straining, and isthen 

 fit for use. It is of a thick creamy consist- 

 ence, and of a fine plum colour; and when 

 svveetened with sugar, and thickened with 

 cassava farina, it is very nutritious, and 

 forms the greater part of the daily food of 



