ehretia

[Named after D. G. Ehret, a cele brated German botanical draughtsman.] Bot .: The typical genus of Ehretiacee; they are shrubs or small trees, eight to twenty-five feet high, with the flowers, which are generally white, in corymbs or panicles. Some species bear eatable drupes. The root of Ehretia buxifolia is prescribed in India in chronic venereal affections. E. serrata , also from India, has a tough, light, durable wood. chr-ět-i-ā-çě-æ, s . pl . [Mod. Lat. ehreti (a), and Lat. fem. pl. adj. suff. -aceœ.] Bot.: Ehretiads. An order of Perigynous Exogens, alliance Echiales. It consists of trees or shrubs, with a harsh pubescence. Leaves simple, alternate, without stipules; flowers gyrate; calyx inferior, five-parted; corolla monopetalous, tubular, with five segments; stamens five; ovary, two or more celled; fruit drupaceous; seed suspended, solitary in each cell. They are closely akin to Boraginaceae. They are divided into two tribes: (1) Tour nef or tiesæ, in which the leaves have albumen, and (2) Heliotropese, in which they are destitute of albumen. The Ehretiads are trees or shrubs, from the tropics of both hemispheres. Lindley enumerated fourteen genera, and estimated the known species at 297.