432 
THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 
Nelumbium continued. 
laced in shallow water. It thrives in warm sheltered tanks 
n the open during summer. This plant has been regarded 
from the most remote periods as the emblem of fertility. (B. M. 
903, 3916, 3917.) There are several varieties of this species. 
NEMACONIA. A synonym of Ponera (which see). 
NEMASTYLIS (from nema, a thread, and stylos, 
a column; referring to the slender style). Syns. 
Chlamydostylis, Eustylis, Nemostylis. ORD. Iridew. A 
genus comprising about half-a-dozen species of half- 
hardy bulbs, natives of Mexico and North and tropical 
America. Flowers in few or somewhat numerous- 
flowered spathes, pedicellate; perianth segments ovate ; 
spathe oblong or narrow. Leaves narrow, long, some- 
times sub-terete, rarely narrow-ensiform ; floral leaves 
one or two. Bulb tunicated. The species thrive in well- 
drained sandy loam: for pot culture they do best in a 
cold frame near the glass, or in a light, cool house. After 
the leaves have died off, the pots must be kept dry 
and stored in a cool place until the following spring. 
Increased by bulb offsets, or by seeds. 
N. acuta (acute).* é blue, yellow, black, solitary, terminal, very 
fugacious, falling to pieces within a few hours of their opening. 
. n ris achat United States, 1875. Syn. N. geminiflora. 
N. legen (celestial blue). fl. bright blue, mostly solitary, 
terminal; perianth six-parted, the divisions oblong-obovate. 
May and June. J., radical ones few, elongated, sheathing; stem 
ones diminishing upwards, the uppermost * Stem lift. 
high. South United States, 1882. (R. G. 1081, Fig. 1.) 
N. geminiflora (twin-flowered). A synonym of N. acuta. 
NEMATANTHUS (from nema, nematos, a thread, 
and anthos, a flower; the flowers of one species hang down 
from long, thread-like footstalks). ORD. Gesneracee. A 
small genus (three or four species) of very ornamental, 
stove, evergreen, climbing, fleshy, Brazilian shrubs. Flowers 
large, solitary or twin, axillary; corolla with an obconical 
tube gradually merging into a funnel or bell-shaped ex- 
pansion. Leaves opposite, thick, entire, glabrous. The 
species thrive in a compost of sandy peat and turfy loam, 
with charcoal and dried cowdung. Propagation may be 
freely effected by cuttings inserted in sandy soil, and 
kept rather dry. 
green-threaded). jl. scarlet, 2in. long, beset with 
N. chloronema ( 
white hairs paar > re July. l. oblong-lanceolate, acuminated at 
both ends. 1841. = M. 4080.) 
N. corticicola (epiphytal). fl. scarlet, beset with scattered 
minute hairs ; podanie 6in. to 12in. long, clothed with violaceous 
and white hairs. -lanceolate, acuminated at both ends. 
1848. (B. M. 4460; F. d. S. 498, under name of N. ionema.) 
N. ionema (violet-threaded). A synonym of N. corticicola. 
N. longipes (long-stalked). fl. bright red, about 2in. lon ith 
the segments of the tube e reflexed ; stalks thread-like, 
Zin. long. December. l. thick, fleshy, oblo: d green. Stems 
erect, 1}ft. high. 1841. (B. NI. ma A 
NEMATOCERAS. A synonym of Corysanthes. 
NEMATOID WORMS (Anguillulidæ). The im- 
portance of this group of microscopic animals, as giving 
rise to disease boch wild and cultivated. plants, is 
becoming ever more fully recognised with the extension 
of careful researches into the nature of diseases that 
were formerly ill-understood. They differ much from 
the earthworms, and other true worms, and exhibit 
a much lower type of structure. They are minute, 
white or translucent, and usually so small as to re- 
semble short, slender, pieces of hair, even when visible 
at all without a magnifying glass. All those kinds that 
cause disease in plants are very minute, and live in 
_ the interior of the parts they attack, so that these parts 
must be cut into, or opened, before worms can be dis- 
-~ covered. When seen through a microscope, they appear 
lender, tapering both ways, but the front end, in which 
is the mouth, is rather blunt, the hinder end, or tail, 
a usually long, and tapers gradually, or it may bear an 
R of tho skin Sig dee ox both mida. Phare 
8 no head; nor are there limbs or organs of sense of 
Nematoid Worms—continued. 
any kind visible. The mouth opens in front; on the 
gullet and intestines there are usually two swollen mus- 
cular bodies, which serve for helping to prepare the 
food in its passage downwards. The intestine opens 
below in the anus, some distance from the end of the 
body, the tail, of varying length, lying behind it. The 
characters of the genera and species are recognisable 
usually in the mature animals alone. 
the sexual openings, and, in the males, two horny out- 
growths, connected with reproduction, assist in supply- 
ing distinctive characters, as do also peculiarities in 
the internal organs, which can be made out, with no 
great difficulty under the microscope, in the living 
animals. The Anguillulide are very numerous in species, 
and they show considerable diversity in habits and. 
modes of life. A few live as parasites in the intes- 
tines of animals, e.g., Oxyuris vermicularis in man. 
Many, probably most, live free in damp earth, or in 
mud in which there is abundant decaying organic 
matter, or in decaying plant-remains under water. A 
certain number live in plants; some in the roots, pro- 
ducing galls or swellings; others in the green vegetative 
organs (e.9., in leaves of Plantago, of some grasses, such 
as Agrostis alba), or in the ovary (e.g., in Wheat). Only 
the plant parasites are here dealt with. They chiefly 
belong to a genus called Tylenchus, though much atten- 
tion has been drawn to the ravages of another Nema- 
tode, known as Heterodera Schachtii, because of the 
injury done by it, in Germany, to the roots of the 
Sugar Beet, as well as to other plants—both wild and 
cultivated. The species of Anguillulide seem to be 
very widely diffused over the world; though the diffi- 
culties of identifying the species are so great as to 
render unreliable the conclusions arrived at by anyone 
save an expert. The plant parasites usually give rise 
to a much-increased growth of cellular tissue, thus pro- 
ducing galls of a characteristic aspect. On microscopic 
examination of sections of the galls, the cells in them 
are generally found to be much larger than in healthy 
tissues, and less regular in arrangement and form; and 
they leave large inter-cellular spaces, or else one large, 
irregular central space, in which are found numerous 
young animals, together with oval or cylindrical eggs, 
the walls of which are so thin as to allow the young 
animal coiled up in each to be easily seen. - Less fre- 
quently, along with these may be seen one or two mature 
individuals. The galls have usually a peculiar colour, due 
to sap in the cells near the surface. 
is no trace of an opening to be seen in the mature 
galls. The young animals seem to be dispersed chiefly 
by the galls decaying and setting free the eggs or 
young in the soil, to be blown about with the dust in 
dry weather. 
causes “bunt” in wheat (Tylenchus Tritici)—have a 
curious faculty of reviving in moisture, after having been 
dried up for months, or even years. They also seem 
capable of enduring extremes of cold and heat, up to 
125deg. Fahr., without being destroyed ; and they are 
not susceptible to vegetable poisons, though they perish 
in solutions of acids and of most metallic compounds. 
In pure water, they survive for a long time. 
Cereals are very liable to be attacked, Tylenchus 
Tritici galling the ovaries, while T. devastatriz, Kühn 
(T. dipsaci, J. Kühn), attacks the stalk, and the inflo- 
rescences of the Rye, of various other grasses, and of 
many other plants, e.g., the Teasel (Dipsacus Fullonum), 
Clovers, Buckwheat, &c., causing them to remain stunted, 
with short internodes, and to become yellow. The former 
species is not troublesome to gardeners ; the second one 
is injurious to many cultivated, as well as to unculti- 
vated, plants. Both species of Tylenchus live entirely 
hidden from sight, as already described. The males of 
the genus Tylenchue have usually a thin skin or free 
The situation of 
As a rule, there 
Several of the species—notably that which 
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