E H R 
E II R 
EGYPTIANS, the natives of Egypt: an appellation 
rdfo beftt wed on a lingular defcription of wandering vaga¬ 
bonds in England, called gypjies. See the article Gypsev. 
EHIN'GEN, a town of Germany, in the circle of Swa¬ 
bia : twelve miles fouth-weft of Ulm, and forty-eight 
weft of Auglburg. See Ebingen. 
"EH'LE, a river of Germany, in the circle of Upper 
Saxony, which runs into the Elbe, near Magdeburg. 
EH'RENBERG, a citadel of Germany, in the county 
of Tyrol, on the frontiers of Swabia : forty miles north- 
eaft of Infpruck. 
EHRENBR EIT'STEIN, a fortrefs of Germany, in 
the Lower electorate, and confidered as the key of the 
Rhine and the Mofelle, near Coblentz, on the oppofite 
fide of the Rhine. 
EH'REXBURG, a town of Germany, in the circle of 
Weftphalia, and county of Hoya : eighteen miles-weft- 
fouth-weft of Hoya. 
EH'RENFELS, or E-hrnfels, a lordftiip of Germany, 
in the circle of Bavaria, and principality of Neuburg, to 
which it was ceded in 1567. It gives a feat in the alfem- 
bly of the circle, and pays thirty-fix florins for a Roman 
month. It takes its name from a fortrefs, thirteen miles 
north-weft of Ratilbon. 
EHRENFRIE'DERSDORF, or Irberdorf, a town 
of Germany, in the circle of Upper Saxony, in the circle 
of Erzgeburg, founded in 1407 ; near it are tin mines, 
formerly very rich : three miles weft of Wolkenftein. 
EH'RENSLEIN, a town and ancient caftle of Ger¬ 
many, in the circle of Upper Saxony, and principality of 
Schwartzburg Rudolftadt : ten miles north-weft of Saal- 
field. 
EH'RET (George-Dionyftus), a very excellent bota¬ 
nical painter, fan to the gardener of the prince of Baden- 
Durlach, bern in that country in 1710. At a very early 
age, without inftrudfion, he took to drawing and painting 
flowers, and had executed five hundred pieces with won¬ 
derful accuracy, when he was made known to Dr. Trew, 
of Nuremberg’, who purchafed the whole at double the 
price he let upon them. Having, with the thoughtlelT- 
nefs of a young man, diflipated the fum which he had 
thus raifed, he went to Bafil, where, ftimulated by ne- 
ceflity, he refumed his labours, and produced many ad¬ 
mit able fpecimens of his (kill. He then vifited France 
and England, fupporting himfelf by th.e practice and the 
teaching of his art. In 1736 he was employed in the 
garden of Mr. Clifford in Holland, where he met with 
Linnaeus, who inftruCied him in his fyftem. His fine tafte 
and botanical accuracy of delineation were publicly dif- 
playea in the figures of the Hortus C/imrtianus, which ap¬ 
peared in 1737. He returned to England about 1740, 
and fpent the remainder of his days in this country. He 
was employed by various lovers oi natural hiftory, whole 
cabinets he enriched with his works. The late duchefs 
of Portland poifetTed near three hundred paintings of 
exotics, and five hundred of Englilh plants, upon vel¬ 
lum, highly finifhed by his hand. Several of his pieces 
are in the Britilh Mufeum, probably from the collections 
of Sloane and Mead, both of whom employed him; the 
latter generoufly advanced his price. Fie was accuftomed 
for feverul years to pals fome of the fummer months at 
the feat of Ralph Wiilet, efq. of Merly, Dorfetlhire, in 
the library of which is a copious collection of his per¬ 
formances. For his fir(t patron, Dr. Trew, he painted a 
number of figures of rare plants in the Englilh botanical 
gardens, of which one hundred have been engraved, and 
publiihed under the title of Plant# Scled#, &c. in ten de- 
cads, from 1750 to 1773, with the illuftrations of Dr. 
Trew and Dr. Vogel, forming one ot the moft fplc.ndid 
works in botany. Ehret drew the figures of Brown’s 
Hiftory of Jamaica, in forty plates. He both drew and 
engraved a fet of fifteen plates of exotics, each containing 
two or three plants, with a foreign butterfly. He was 
elected a fellow of the royal fociety, a diftinCtion he de¬ 
served for the fcientific knowledge which he pollefled, 
Vol. VI. N0.358. 
ssy 
and which greatly contributed to the truth of his pencil. 
He married a lifter of Philip Miller, of Chelfea, and ob¬ 
tained a moderate independence by the practice of his 
art, which he continued as long as he lived. He died in 
1770 . 
EHRE'TI A, f. [fo named after that ingenious artift and 
botanift, G. D. FJirct.~\ In botany, a genus of the clafs pen- 
taiulri 1, order monogynia, natural order afperifoliae, (bor- 
ragin cx, JuJf.) The generic characters are—Calyx: pe- 
rianthium one-leafed, bell-ftiaped ; half five-cleft, obtufe, 
very fmall, permanent. Corolla: one-petalled; tube 
longer than the calyx ; border five cleft ; divifions fdme- 
vvhat ovate, flat. Stamina: filaments five, fubulate, pa¬ 
tulous, length of the corolla; antherre roundifli, incum¬ 
bent. Piftillum : germ roundifli ; ftyle filiform, thicker 
above, length of the ftamens ; ftigma obtufe, emarginate. 
Pericarpium: berry roundifli, one-celled. Seeds: four, 
convex on one lide, cornered on the other.— EJfential Cha- 
rader. Berry two-celled ; leeds folitary, two-celled; ftig¬ 
ma emarginate. 
Species, i. Ehretia tinifolia, or tinus-leaved ehretia : 
leaves oblong-ovate, quite entire, fmooth ; flowers pani- 
cled. This is an upright tree, from twenty to thirty feet 
high, with an oblong thick head. Leaves alternate, 
veined, blunt, about four inches long, on Ihort petioles. 
Flowers numerous, white, fmall. Berry fpherical, at 
fir ft yellow', then black. Seeds two, hemifpherical, two- 
celled. Native of Cuba and Jamaica ; flowering there in 
January and February. In Jamaica, where it is pretty 
common in the lower lands, and known by the name of 
bafiard cherry-tree, it riles generally to the height of fix- 
teen or twenty feet-: the berries are fmall, and feldom 
exceed the largeft of our European currants in fize. They 
ferve to feed poultry, and are fometimes eaten by the 
poorer fort of people. Mr. Miller received the feeds 
from Jamaica, in 1734. The plants grew here to the 
height of eight or nine feet, and produced flowers, but 
not feeds. He w ill not allow that it is Sloane’s plant: the 
leaves in this being fmoother, longer, and more pointed, 
and the corymb of flowers much longer than in Sloane’s 
plant. 
2. Ehretia fpinofa, or thorny ehretia: thorny. This 
tree has a trunk three or four inches in diameter, dividing 
almoft clofe to the-ground ufually in three parts, which 
run up twenty-five or.thirty feet high : thefe having put 
out a few fimilar bought: in their progrefs, fcarcely /.train 
the length of ten feet before they are bowed back to the 
ground, and require fupport from the boughs of the 
neighbouring trees : they have many very ihort lateral 
branches fcatteringly dilpofed; their bark is alb-colour¬ 
ed, arid fmooth. Strong, woody, Ihort, very thick, awl- 
fhaped, (pines, are feattered over the trunk, principal 
boughs, and fecondary branches; the oldcft of thefe fre¬ 
quently put forth from their middle a perpendicular leafy 
branchlet of the fame length with themfelves. Leaves 
oblong, Ihining, three or four inches long, uncertain in 
their number, but ufually five or fix from the fame tu¬ 
bercle, falling off every year. Flowers very many, fmall, 
with yellowilh corollas. The fegments of the ftyle may 
be regarded as a two-parted ftigma, whence with a glals 
appears an opening to the germ itfelf. Fruit the fize of 
a pea, and red. Native of Carthagena, in New Spain; 
flowering in Auguft, and bearing fruit in October. It is 
called there cacaracacara, and differs much in habit from 
the preceding ; they agree, however, in the flower, ex¬ 
cept in the calyx and ftyle. 
3. Ehretia Bourreria, or oval-leaved ehretia : leaves 
ovate, quite entire, fmooth ; flowers in a kind of corymb ; 
calyxes fmooth. This is a fmall inelegant tree, having an 
adult habit ; in Curasao often above fifteen feet high, in 
Martinico leldom five. Trunk unequal, with a chinky 
bark. Branches very many, irregular. Leaves alternate, 
petioled, quite entire, various ; obtufe, acute or emargi¬ 
nate ; on rocks fmooth, elfewhere rugged; differing in 
fize, oblong, ovate, See. Racemes corymbed, terminating. 
5 G Flowers 
