9 TORTUS JAMAICENSIS. viegin's 



^IKE-SORREL. CISSUS. 



Cl. 4, or 1. Tetrandria inonogynia. Nat. or. llederacca. 

 .CfiN. char. See Bastard Bryony, v. 1, p. 55. 



ACtDA. ACID. 



Bryonia albaAriphylla, geniculata, /oliis crassis, aa'dis. S'oane. v. 

 J, p. ^33, t. 1 -_', ft 5 6 Triphyila, scandenset clav:cu'h;t-a.fclHs 

 crassis sci i alls. Browne, p. i-47. Irsioia. 



Leaves ternate ob-ovate, smooth, fleshy, gashed. 



Stem scandcnt, flexuose, round, tinged with, purple, succulent, jointed ; brancbo*. 

 short; leaves petioted alternate ; leaflets sessile, euneate-tJbovate, g -.! ied at the e '.. 

 thick, nerveless, deep green. Tendrils at the joints of the stem, long, filiform, stn. L , 

 others terminating, very long. Umbels five-cleft ; umbellets fiv< -flowered ; the flow- 

 ers pedicelled, and under tne pedicels little bractes ; calyx surrounding the germ, 

 pitcher-shaped, obtusel}' four-toothed"; corollafour-parted,'Chi He? and eci- 



tluous; germ truncate ; berry black, surrounded by thje calyx '' . of Jam i in 

 woods near the coast. The wh lie plant is acid. ~Swartz. Every joint of the stem 

 snakes an obtuse angle with that next to it It grows near river side.s, and flowers in 

 May, climbing on trees or ai tl ing i .. it Shane. 



Tins with its clavicles laj 3 hold of any thi g that it is near, climbing over palisadoes, 

 so thick thtit it cannot be seen through, ami upon walls, covering them so that the wall 

 canno* be seen, and keeps green all tne yen- round for many years without decaying. 

 The let f is thick and juicy, a^ orpnant, or house-leek, but much lacerated and divided, 

 so that one leaf looks like three or four, a in.e sfesrated on the sides, ... I hath a very 

 sour or sharp taste, like sorrel, which some make u-e of for sauce a- common sorrel, bur 

 jt is slimy, and leaves a little heat upon the palate. It bears a round- berry, like .c 

 brionies, first green, and tlien very black ; when ripe, it luth sometimes a go. at mail I 

 bunch amongst it like <lod ler, as thick and as big as a man's hea 1 ; and when it seems 

 to be withered or dried, which this dodder substaf ce is, at one lime of the year, if you 

 Landle or squeeze it, there will come out alight black substance like lam p-black, which 

 will stick so (lose to the skin as not easily to be washed off. 1 believe this might be of 

 jg^e for staining, colouring, or dying, if rightly understood. Barkam, p. 17,5. 



VioLETi See Psychotr;a. 



VIRGIN'S -BOWER. CLEMATIS. 



Ci 13, or 7. Po'tjandria polygynia. Nat. or. MultisUiqutp. 



Gi n. char. Calyx, n me ; corolla lour oblong lax-petals ; stamens very m.-,nv su- 

 bulate filaments, shorter than the corolla : anthers growing to the side of the fila- 

 ments ; the pistil has very many germs, roundish, compressed, ending in subulate 

 styles, loneer than the stamens; stigmas simple; no pericarp ; receptacle headed 

 small ; seeds very tis<.ny, roundish, compressed, furnished with the st\ie, in vari- 

 ous forms. One species is a native of Jamaica. 



DI05CA 



