no HOItTUS JAMAICENSIS. rattlewort 



table. Tt is thought to be a native of China, ant! cultivated in England in 1597, as no- 

 ticed in Gerarde\s Herbal, but probably introduced there before that period. They 

 are usually mixed and sown in the same bed as carrot seed, as they come speedily to 

 perfection, and may be taken out of it before the carrot seed makes its appearance. 

 Raddishes are thought to be opening, attenuating, and antiscorbutic, but afford little 

 nourishment, and are windy. They provoke urine, and are good for the stone and 

 gravel. 



RAMOON-TREE. TROPHIC. 



Cl. 22, or. 4 Dioecia tetrandria. Nat. or. Calyciflora. 



This generic name is derived from a Greek word signifying nourishment, from the 

 leaves being good fodder for cattle. 



Gen. char. No male calyx ; corolla four obtuse spreading petals ; stamens four 

 capillary filaments, longer than the corolla. Female on a distinct plant : calyx 

 one-leafed, very small, closely investing the germ ; no corolla ; the pistil has an 

 ovate germ, a filiform two-parted style, and aduate stigma ; the pericarp a sub- 

 striated berry, wrinkled, one-celled; seeds single, sub-globular. There is only 

 one species, which is a native of Jamaica. 



AMERiCANA. AMERICAN. 



Foliis oblongo ovatis glabris alternis, fioribus masculinis spicatis ad 

 alas. Browne, p. 357, t. 37, f. 1. 



This tree is twenty feet high at most, with nearly upright, round, even, branches ; 

 leaves oblong, acuminate, with the point blunt, entire, beneath netted- veined and 

 paler. Male Bowers in peduncled roundish aments, an inch long, erect, axillary, sub- 

 solitary ; dowers approximating, minute, whitish. Female flowers in axillary racemes, 

 ' two together, longer than the petioles, composed of seven or eight sessile, alternate, 

 horizontal, flowers ; germ pubescent ; style parted at the base ; segments length of the 

 germ, spreading, and bent down, with ferruginous hairs on them ; the fruit is a stri- 

 ated one seeded drupe. A clammy very white milky juice flows from an incision in the 

 trunk of the tret-, or from the branches when broken. Sw. The leaves and tops of 

 this tree maki' an agreeable wholesome fodder for ail sorts of cattle and horses, and are 

 often used as such in dry seasons, in the inland woody parts of Jamaica, where grass is 

 frequently very scarce. The berries are generally about the size of large grapes, and 

 of an agreeable pleasant flavour. Browne. 



Uaquette See Torch Thistle. 



RATTLEWORT. CROTALARIA. 



Cl. 17, on. 4. Diadelphia decandria. Nat. or. PapUionaccte, 

 Ti was ij named because the seeds in the ripe pods make a rattling noise. 



Ger. 



