HOItTUS A.ICEI I 



acuminate, one or two-cell cl, ree Ived; I 



capi appus. Fid n t of this genu i to Jamaic 



foii I th( ribe I undej? the article , 



1. USNEOIDES. SSY. 



Viscicin caryopfiylloides tenuissimum, e ramidrs atboritm musei hi 

 tit >dum ,<i - n'Sffoliis pruina insldr candicani ' p< taio t 



semiacjil.amentoso. Sloane, v. l, p. 191, t. 122, f. 2, 3. Reneal- 

 i ia l. Parasitica cavle jiliformi ramoso, geniculate lorfghsimb -, 

 joliis subulatis. Browne, p. l. ; J. 

 Filiform, branched, intoned, rugged. 



Stem the bigness of a thread, the skin whitish, as if covered with hpar-frost, wiiLvi 

 tough and black like a horse-hair. Many of these together stick on tne branches of the 

 ebony or other tree superficially by the middle ; sending down on each side sonic of the 

 same steins, very often a yard long, hanging on both sides, curled or turning and 

 winding one within another, and resembling- an old man's beard, whence its common 

 name in Jamaica. The stems are branched, and the branches) which are two or three 

 inches long, are set with roundish white frosted leaves. The flowers come out at the 

 end of the branches. .Sloane. This slender parasitical plant is found upon the trees in 

 many parts of Jamaica, but does not grow so common nor so luxuriantly as it does in 

 the more northern provinces of the main continent, where it is said to over-run whole 

 forests. It is frequently imported to Jamaica from North America for the use of sad- 

 dlers and coachmakers, who commonly stuff their pannejs, cushions, &c. with this weed. 

 In Louisiana, and other neighbouring settlements, this plant is very carefully gathered 

 and stripped of the bark, and the fibres, which are very like, and by no -means inferior 

 to, horse-hair, made into mattrasses, cushions, pannels, &c. It is manufactured by 

 'tying the stalks in bundles, anil sinking them in water, or burving them under ground 

 in a moist place, until the bark rots ; they are then taken up, boiled in water, and 

 washed until the fibres are quite cleared of the pulp. These are not only used instead 

 of horse-hair, but are so very like it as not to be distinguished, without strict examin- 

 ation. The banana birds nest is always made of the fibres of this plant, and generally 

 found hanging by a few threads ftom the tops of the most expanded branches of tiia 

 most lofty trees, especially those that spread over ponds or rivers. Broumc, 



2. RECURVATA. RECURVED. 



Yiscum caryephyllqides minus, Joliis pruinte instar carrdicantibus, fiore 

 iripctalo purpureo semine filamentoso. Sloane, v. 1, p. 11)0, t. 121, 

 f. -1. Parasitica parva pruiiwsa, scapo tcnui bijloro. Browne, 

 p. 194. 



Leaves awl-shaped, rugged, reclined; culms one-flowered; glume two- 

 flowered. 



Hoots filiform, clustered, whitish; stems aggregate, simple; or leaves constituting 

 the stem, sheathing at the base, so that the plant is rather stemless. Sheaths of the 

 leaves alternate, half-embracing ; leaves filiform-subulate, compressed, plano-convex, 

 slightly channelled, recurved at the end, pubescent, and meallv, with ash-coloured 

 scales. Peduncles terminating from the middle of the leaves, filiform, round, two or 

 three inches long; spathe two-leaved, two-dowered; leaflets equal, lanceolate-acu- 



C 2 minate, 



