ECHITES (from echis, a viper; referring probably either to its deleterious quality or its twining habit). ORD. Apocynaceoe. A genus of about thirty-five species of handsome stove evergreen twining shrubs, all natives of tropical America. Flowers sub-corymbose; corolla salver-shaped, having a naked throat and tube, with unequal segments; peduncles interpetiolar, many-flowered. Leaves opposite; interpetiolar cilia glandular. For culture, see Dipladenia. ECHITES atropurpurea (dark-purple). fl. dark chocolate colour. July. Braxil, 1814. (B. P. 1843, 27.) ECHITES franciscea (River Francisco). fl. purplish-red, large; peduncles short, producing from six to eight-flowered umbels. September. l. dark green. Brazil, 1845. (B. R. 1847, 24.) ECHITES f. sulphurea (sulphur). fl. sulphur-coloured, with a red tube and a rose-coloured eye; smaller than in the type. Brazil. A pretty, distinct variety. It is a free-growing stove creeper, and may be cultivated either in a pot, and supported by neat rods or a wire trellis: or planted out in a border, against a back wall or pillar. (B. M. 4547.) ECHITES nutans (nodding). fl. yellow, nodding, in panicles, pedunculate; corolla lobes blunt, wavy. September. l. ovate, acuminate, pale pea-green, the midrib and nerves veined with beautiful transparent red, downy beneath. West Indies, 1823. (B. M. 2473.) ECHITES rubro-venosa (red-veined). l. covered with a brilliant network, which is speckled with bright red or a golden-yellow, and stands out conspicuously from the emerald-green ground. South America, 1867. A very handsome plant. (F. d. S. 1728.) ECHITES scholaris. see Alstonia scholaris. ECHITES splendens (splendid). A synonym of Dipladenia splendens. ECHITES stellaris (starry). fl. rose, yellow; racemes axillary, a little hispid, ten to twelve-flowered; peduncles downy. September. l. ovate-oblong, glabrous above, downy beneath. Branches downy. h. 6ft. Brazil, 1831. (B. R. 1664.) ECHITES umbellata (umbellate). fl., corolla silky, villous inside the tube, large, with a white or pale yellow limb and green tube; umbels few-flowered. July. l. ovate-orbicular, cuspidately mucronate, 2 1/2in. long. West Indies, &c., 1733.