Episcia
(from episkios, shaded; occurring, in their native habitats, in shady places). As now understood, this genus includes Alsobia, Centrosolenia, Cyrtodeira, Nautilocalyx, Physodiera, and Skiophila. ORD. Gesneraceae. Very beautiful stove herbaceous perennials. About thirty species have been described, all New World plants, dispersed over Central America and the West Indies. Flowers axillary, solitary, or in little cymes; corolla funnel-shaped. Leaves opposite, petiolate, alike or dissimilar. For cultivation, see Gesnera. E. bicolor (two-coloured).* fl. white, bordered with purple, erect or inclined; calyx hairy, deeply five-cleft into five nearly erect linear-lanceolate sepals, recurved at the apex; corolla white, gibbous on one side at the base, dilated above, tumid beneath, within spotted with purple; tube rather short; peduncles slender, hairy, from the axils of the leaves. l. large, hairy, between ovate and cordate, spreading, somewhat glossy, acute, penninerved and coarsely reticulated; petioles short, hairy. h. 3in. New Grenada. A somewhat creeping, procumbent plant. (B. M. 4390.) E. chontalensis (Chontalese).* fl. lilac, with a yellow centre, a whitish tube, nearly 2in. across. November and December. l. ovate, or ovate-oblong, acute, sub-cordate at the base, purple on the under side, and light green on the upper surface. h. 6in. Nicaragua, 1867. (B. M. 5925.) E. cupreata (coppery).* This is the correct name of plant described under Achimenes cupreata.
E. c. viridifolia (green-leaved). This closely resembles the type, differing from it only in the much larger flowers, and in the absence of the coppery tinge to the foliage. New Grenada, 1860. An elegant plant. (B. M. 5195, under name of Cyrtodeira cupreata.) E. erythropus (red-stalked). fl. fascicled in the axils of the leaves, on slender, single-flowered peduncles, about 1in. to 2in. long; calyx divisions subulate lanceolate, quite entire, green; corolla pale flesh-coloured, with orange-purple spots within the yellow throat and tube; limb oblique, nearly flat; lobes orbicular. l. sub-radical, oblanceolate, cordate-acuminate, decurrent on the stout petiole, irregularly toothed, bright green above, suffused with red beneath; midrib and petiole very stout, blood-red; nerves many, arching, very red. New Grenada, 1874. (B.M. 6219.) E. fulgida (shining).* fl., corolla bright and almost vermilion-red; tube hirsute, 1 1/2in. long, cylindric, nearly straight; limb 1in. in diameter, nearly equal; lobes rounded, irregularly toothed; peduncles axillary, solitary, stout, 1in. to 2in. long. July. l. 3in. to 5in. long, elliptic, or elliptic-ovate, acute, crenulate serrate, convex, bullately reticulated on the upper surface, dark emerald green, paler along the midrib, and inclined to coppery. h. 6in. New Grenada, 1873. (B. M. 6136.) E. melittifolia (Melittis-leaved). fl., corolla crimson; tube longer than the calyx, curved downwards, with an obtuse spur at the base above; limb of five, nearly equal, rounded, spreading lobes; peduncles few, rarely single-flowered. April, May. l. upon long petioles, large, nearly elliptical, obtuse at the base, acute at the apex; margin coarsely doubly crenate, dark green, glossy, wrinked above, with the sunk reticulated veins; pale beneath. h. 1ft. Dominica, 1853. (B. M. 4720.) E. villosa (shaggy).* fl. axillary, generally ternate and spreading, so as to form pseudo-verticils; pedicels short, single-flowered; calyx gibbous at the base, above deeply cut into five large, much acuminated segments; corolla white, villous externally, the tube gibbous at the base above, curved, compressed, the mouth spreading, within on the lower side marked with purple rounded lobes. May and June. l. opposite, petioled, ovate, acute or acuminate, coarsely serrated, villous with spreading hair, strongly reticulated and rugose, the nerves prominent beneath, and then tomentose; petioles, thick, woolly, and villous. Branches erect, obtusely tetragonal, thickly hairy and woolly. h. 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. Surinam. A distinct and handsome species. (B. M. 4866, under name of Drymonia villosa.)