TIIALA:MlFLORy'F.. 



Roots perennial ; leaves exactly opposite. — Name, from yu.riiJ.a 

 the shoot of a vine, which its long branches somewhat resemble. 



1. Clematis dioica. Dioecious Traveller's joy. 



Flowers paiiicled dioBcious, leaves ternately divided, 

 divisions ovate subcordate acuminate triply nerved en- 

 tire glabrous, pericarps oval, pedicels pubescent. 



Slomie, Hist. I. 199. t. 118. f. I.— -Browne, Jam. 255?— De 

 , Catid. S//st. I. 143.— Frod. I. 4. 



HAB. Common on th.e lower hills, especially in limestone 

 districts. 



FL. August — December. 



Fruticose, ascending to a considerable height on neiglibour- 

 ing shrubs and trees : branches terete, glabrous, striated, stained 

 with purple. Leaves opposite, petioled, ternate ; leaflets in the 

 young plant connected together ; in the old, petioluled, ovate, 

 subcordate, acuminate with a bluntish apicula, S-(or sub-5) 

 -nerved, smooth, shining above: petiolelong, terete, striated, oc- 

 casionally (as also the branches) granulato-verrucose : petiolules 

 pedato-patent. Peduncles axillary, frequently longer than the 

 leaves, subdivided : pedicels pubescent. Flowers greenish- 

 white, and slightly fragrant, by abortion sub-dicecious. — $ . 

 Calyx with sepals oblong, pubescent, reflexed. Stamens cc, 

 length of the sepals. — $ . Pericarps about 20, oval, compressed, 

 pubescent, terminated by a long feathery awn. 



This is the only species indigenous to the Island, the Cle- 

 iMATis sca)idens foliis 5-nerviis, referring to this species and not 

 to C. Americana as supposed by De Candolle. — Tlie long 

 slender branches of this plant are employed by the Negroes as 

 a substitute for cord, in tying rails, bundles of grass, &c. The 

 leaves are hot and acrid to the taste, and, when bruised into a 

 pulp, and applied to the skin, they act as a rubefacient, and even 

 vesicate^ An infusion of the bruised leaves and flowers, forms 

 a good lotion for the removal of spots and freckles from the 

 skin : and a decoction of the root in sea- water, mixed wit!i wine, 

 is said to act as a powerful purge in hydropic cases. Barham 

 quaintly remarks, " I never could understand why it is called 

 Traveller's joy, or what joy travellers reap from it." 



II. Ranunculus. Crowfoot. 



Calycine sepals 5. Petals 5, rarely 10, with a 

 foveolar nectariferous squamule at the base. Stamens 

 and ovaries cr. Carpels ovate, subcompressed, ter- 

 minating in an awn scarcely longer than the seed, ar- 

 ranged in a globose or cylindrical head. 



