ERY 
countries where they naturally grow, they produce 
flowers in great plenty every year ; fo that it is very 
common there to fee molt of their branches termi- 
nated by large fpikes of flowers, when they have no 
leaves upon them ; and the firft fort, which grows in 
Carolina, is equally produ&ive of flowers there, tho’ 
here they do not flower oftener than once in two or 
three vears, and the other forts not fo frequent. I 
have tried by various methods to get them to flower ; 
fome I have treated hardily, by expofing them to 
the open air during the fummer feafon, and in the 
winter kept them in a very moderate temperature 
of warmth ; others I have kept plunged all the year 
in the tan-bed of the ftove, and fome have remained 
in a dry ftove all the year, where in warm weather 
they had a large fhare of air admitted to them, and 
in winter the air was kept to the temperate point. 
In this lad place the plants have fucceeded beft, yet 
with this treatment they feldom flower •, and this is 
the general complaint of every one who is poffefied 
of thefe plants, not only in England, but alfo in Hol- 
land and France. 
The firft fort may be kept through the winter in a 
warm green-houfe, but the plants fo kept rarely 
flower ; and the two forts which I have received from 
the Cape of Good Hope, have lived through the win- 
ter in a warm glafs-cafe, without fire ^ but thefe have 
not made fo good progrefs, as thofe plants which were 
kept in a temperate warmth •, fo that in this country, 
it is much the beft method of treating thefe plants, 
efpecially while they are young. 
Thefe plants are beft propagated by feeds, when 
they can be procured from the countries where they 
naturally grow, for they do not produce any here, 
tho’ they are annually brought to England in plenty. 
The feeds fhould be fown in fmall pots, and plunged 
into a moderate hot-bed ; where, if the feeds are good, 
the plants will come up in a month or five weeks ; 
when they are two inches high, they fhould be care- 
fully fhaken out of the pots, and each planted in a fe- 
parate fmall pot, filled with light earth, and plunged 
into a moderate hot-bed of tanners bark, where they 
muft be lhaded from the fun till they have taken new 
root ; then they fhould have a large fhare of air ad- 
mitted to them at all times when the weather is warm, 
to prevent their being drawn up weak and as the 
plants increafe in ftrength, fo they muft have a larger 
fhare of air. They muft be frequently refrefhed with 
water, but not given to them in great plenty, for too 
much moifture will rot the fibres of their roots. In 
the autumn the plants fhould be removed into the 
ftove ; and for the two or three firft winters, while the 
plants are young, they will require more warmth than 
when they have acquired more ftrength. During the 
time the leaves continue in vigour, the plants will re- 
quire to have water two or three times a week ; but 
when they are deftitute of leaves, it muft be fparingly 
given, for moifture then is very hurtful to them. As 
the plants grow in ftrength, fo they muft be more 
hardily treated ; and by managing them differently, 
there will be a greater chance of getting them to flower. 
The third fort is frequently planted in the gardens 
near Lifbon, where they annually flower and ripen 
their feeds, which have been brought me by perfons 
who gathered the pods from the trees. 
Thefe plants may alfo be propagated by cuttings, 
which, if planted in pots during the fummer months, 
and plunged into a hot-bed, will take root, but the 
feedhng plants are beft. 
ERYTHRONIUM. Lin. Gen. Plant. 375. Dens 
canis. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 378. tab. 202. Dog’s 
Tooth, or Dog’s Tooth Violet. 
The Characters are. 
The flower has no empalement \ it is bell-fhaped , and com- 
pofed of fix oblong petals , which fpread open to their 
hafe. It hath fix ftamina joined to the flyle , terminated 
by oblong , erebt, quadrangular fummits. In the center is 
fituated an oblong , obtufe , three-cornered germen, fupport- 
ing a Jingle flyle which is longer than the ftamina , crown- 
ed by a triple , obtufe , fpreadihg fligma . The germen 
ESP 
afterward becomes an oblong obtufe capfule with thrct 
cells , filled with flat feed. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft fe&ion 
of Linnaeus’s fixth clafs, in which he places thofe plants 
whofe flowers have fix ftamina and one ftyle. 
The Species are, 
1. Erythronium [Bens Canis) folds ovatis. Erythroni - 
um with oval leaves. Dens canis latiore rotundiore- 
que folio, fiore ex purpura rubente. C. B. P. 87* 
Dog’s Tooth Violet with a broader and rounder leaf and 
a purple red flower . 
2. Eryt-hronium ( Longifolium ) foliis lanceolatis. Ery- 
thronium with fpear-fhaped leaves. Dens canis anguf- 
tiore longioreque folio, flore ex albo purpurafcente. 
C. B. P. 87. Dog's Tooth Violet , with a longer and nar - 
rower leaf and a purplifh white flower. 
Thefe are the only diftindl fpecies which I have feen, 
but there are fome varities of them, which are pre- 
ferved in curious gardens. Of the firft fort there 
is a white flower, which is pretty common in the gar- 
dens ; another with a pale purple, and a third with 
yellow flowers, which are rare in England : and of the 
fecond fort there is one with a white, and another with 
a foft red flower, both which are nolv very rare in 
the gardens. 
The firft fort fends out two oval leaves, which are 
joined at their bafe : they are three inches long and 
one and a half broad in the middle, gradually lefien*- 
ing toward the end •, thefe at firft embrace each other 
inclofing the flower, but afterward they fpread flat 
upon the ground ; they are fpQtted with purple and 
white fpots all over their furface ^ between thefe riles 
a Angle naked ftalk about four inches high, which is 
fmooth, of a purple colour ; this fuftains one flower, 
compofed of fix fpear-fhaped petals, which in this 
are purple, but in fome they are white •, the flower 
hangs downward, and the petals reflex and fpread 
open to their bafe. In the center is fituated the ob- 
long three-cornered germen, fupporting a Angle ftyle 
which is longer than the ftamina, crowned by a tri- 
ple ftigma ; the purple ftamina ftand clofe about the 
ftyle, and the ftigma ftands farther out. This plant 
flowers early in April, but feldom produces feeds in 
England. The root of this plant is white, oblong, 
and flefny, and fhaped like a tooth ; from whence it 
had the title of Dog’s Tooth. 
The fecond fort differs from the firft in the ftiape of its 
leaves, which are longer and narrower, and the flowers 
are a little larger but not fo well coloured. They 
grow naturally in Hungary, and in fome parts of Italy. 
They are propagated by offsets from their roots, 
which they do not fend out very plentifully, fo they 
are not fo commonly feen in the gardens, as moft other 
flowers of the fame feafon : they love a fliady fitu- 
ation and a gentle loamy foil, but fhould not be too 
often removed. They may be tranfplanted any time 
after the beginning of June, when their leaves will be 
quite decayed, till the middle of September •, but the 
roots fhould not be kept very long out of the ground, 
for if they fhrink, it will often caufe them to rot. The 
roots of thefe flowers fhould not be planted Scattering 
in the borders of the flower-garden, but in patches 
near each other, where they will make a good ap- 
pearance. 
ESCHYNOMENE. See JEschynomena. 
ESCHYNOMENOUS, JESCHYNOME- 
NOUS PLANTS of a.'iff’gfvo^.ca, 
Gr. to be afhamed,] the fenfitive plants ; which, 
when one touches them, will fhrink in, or let their 
leaves fall down. 
ESCULENT PLANTS [of efculentus, Lai 
eatable,] fuch plants, or the roots of them, as may be 
eaten as Beets, Carrots, Leeks, Onions, Parfneps, 
Potatoes, Radifhes, Horfe-radifh, Scorzonera, &c. 
ESPALIERS, are either rows of trees planted 
about a whole garden or plantation, or in hedges, 
fo as to inclofe quarters or feparate parts of a gar- 
den, which are trained up flat in a dole hedge, for the 
defence of tender plants againft the violence and in- 
jury of wind and weather. 
lit 
The 
