AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 279 
Rats—continued. 
else a hiding-place, and it is often difficult to dislodge 
them- before much mischief has been done. They ascend 
the Vine-rods, and eat off the bunches or berries whole- 
sale, either carrying away or partially devouring them. 
Sometimes, they enter at night by a front sash, or even 
from the roof, if the ventilators are left open, and an 
attack has been once commenced. If Rats are about 
the garden, the bottom sashes of vineries should always 
be closed at night, especially after the Grapes are ripe. 
A plan of prevention, which has been found partially, 
though not wholly, successful, is tying some brown paper 
round the rods, 2ft. or so clear above the ground, in 
the shape of a bell. This prevents the Rats ascend- 
ing the rods, but, as already stated, their means of 
ascent are not always confined to these. Rats are also 
troublesome at times amongst wall fruit-trees outside, by 
carrying away the fruit when ripening. Poison is the 
most effective method of destruction, where it can safely 
be laid down, but the animals often die in places where 
the stench arising from decomposition proves, for a few 
days, almost unbearable in- the locality. 
The Brown or Norway Rat (Mus decumanus) is now 
` almost the only kind of true Rat found in Britain, since 
the Black Rat (Mus rattus), formerly very abundant all 
over the country, has disappeared before the Brown species, 
probably devoured by the latter.. Both are believed to 
have entered Europe from Asia, and to have spread 
westward—the Black Rat having come into Europe 
about the twelfth century of our era, and the other in 
the sixteenth century. The Brown Rat was first observed 
in England about 1730. It has spread all over the world 
by the aid of shipping, and is now very widely natu- 
ralised. The Black Rat is distinguished by its fur being 
greyish-black above, and ashy beneath, and by the tail 
being a little longer than the body. The Brown Rat is 
a good deal larger than the Black, and has the fur 
greyish-brown above, and yellowish-grey beneath; and 
the tail is a little shorter than the body. It requires 
to have free access to water, and its habitats are a good 
- deal determined by this need. It is an excellent swimmer, 
and takes readily to the water. 
Another so-called Rat is the Water Rat, or water vole 
(Arvicola amphibia), which is about the size of a small 
Brown Rat, but is clumsier in form, with a blunt head, 
short ears, and small eyes; the toes of the hind feet are 
connected at the base, and the tail is only about half as 
long as the body. This animal burrows in the banks 
of streams, and passes most of its time in the water. 
It is believed to feed almost exclusively on water 
plants and roots; hence, it is not often hurtfal in 
gardens. The Brown Rats may be destroyed, when ne- 
cessary, by traps, or by means of the poisons recom- 
mended for the destruction of Mice (whith see); or 
ferrets may be employed to drive them from their holes. 
When they are very troublesome, the services of a rat- 
catcher may be resorted to with advantage. 
RATTAN CANE. A common name for Calamus 
Draco. 
RATTLE, RED. A common name for Pedicularis 
sylvatica. 
RATTLE, YELLOW. See Rhinanthus Crista- 
RAUWOLFIA (named in honour v Leonhard 
Rauwolf, physician at Augsburg, who travelled through 
Palestine and other Eastern countries in 1753-5). In- 
cluding Ophioxylon. ORD. Apocynaceæ. A genus com- 
prising nearly forty species of stove, glabrous or rarely 
pubescent trees or shrubs, natives of tropical America, 
Africa, and Asia, and South Africa. Flowers and fruit 
usually rather small; calyx short, five-fid or five-parted, 
eglandulose ; corolla salver-shaped, with a cylindrical 
- A monotypic genus. 
Rauwolfia—continued. 
tube, a constricted throat, and five twisted lobes; pe- 
duncles alternating with the terminal leaves, 
flowered, or di- or trichotomously branched ; cymelets 
usually “ambelliform. Drupes two, distinct or connate 
in a two-stoned, bisuleate fruit. Leaves in whorls of 
three or four, or rarely opposite. Some of the species — 
are rather pretty; the best-known are here described. 
They thrive in a „compost of loam, peat, and sand. 
Cuttings, inserted in sand, under a glass, in heat, will 
root — All are shrubs, except where otherwise 
state 
R. densiflora (dense-flowered). jl. white, many in a shortly- 
pedunculate cyme ; corolla limb almost equalling the tube, June, 
Jr. one-seeded. l lanceolate, acuminate, approximating, sometimes 
ternate. h. 6ft. East Indies, 1824. (B. R. 1273, under name of 
Tabernemontana densiflora.) 
R. — (larger). fl. in terminal cymes ; corolla white, smaller 
than in R. serpentina. April. fr. violet, resembling * olive in 
shape. J, shortly petiolate. eiliptic-oblong, acute, r beneath. 
quaternately whorled, entire. h., 4ft. fava, 1 * robust 
species. 
R. nitida (shining). fl. in terminal, ey -flowered cymes, shorter 
than the leaves; corolla white. eh ane gee Jr. at first yellow, 
becoming dark purple, sul — bil — — 
lanceolate, acute at both ends. — ey shining, th * 
ones din, to 5in. long, l}in, to Ijin. broad, h. 10ft. pain, 
ree. : 
R. serpentina (serpentine). ra pg 3 corymbs ; corolla 
vee or — — neary din —— — red, globose. j 
l. Sin. to 6in. Nin to Bite. bron ment on 
iin. to jin. lng TF cle tose than ‘lit East In es, 1690, 
patie er eget 3 
corolla white. May. fr. about the size of a pea. l. ternate, 
oblong, acuminate, acute at base, reticulate-veined, Luin. to 2in. 
long, six to are. ‘lines broad, on very short ioles. Branches 
rarely warted. h. 3ft. West Indies, 1823. (B. M. 2440.) 
— ———— (of Ruiz and Pavon). Included under 
Citharexylum. 
RAVENALA (said to be the native name of the plant 
in Madagascar). Syn. Urania. Including Phenakosper- 
mum. ORD. ‘Scitamineæ. A genus comprising a couple 
of species of noble, stove plants, one of which is a native 
of North Brazil and Guiana, and the other indigenous in 
Madagascar. Flowers many in a spathe, large, on very 
short pedicels, shortly racemose; sepals three, long, 
narrow, acuminate; petals three, the outer one shorter 
and slightly complicate, the lateral ones long, similar to 
the sepals, but smaller; stamens five, slightly shorter 
than the petals; scapes or peduncles in the upper axils ; 
bracts spathaceous, many, boat-shaped, acuminate, bi- 
fariously spreading. Leaves very large, clustered, flabel- 
lately bifarious ; petioles long and concave at base, scarcely 
sheathed. Stem sometimes short, with sub-radical leaves, 
sometimes erect and woody (as high as 30ft.), built up 
of the sheaths of the leaf-stalks, the other parts of the 
leaves having fallen off. R. madagascariensis is called 
by the French the Traveller's Tree, probably on account 
of the water which is stored up in the large, cup-like 
sheaths of the leafstalks; its seeds are edible. For 
culture, see Musa. 
, gnianensis (Guiana). white ; thes seven, boat-shaped, 
— lft. S = 1ang’ aye ML i distichous, oval- 
elongated, as long as thi petioles. h. nes Brazil and Guiana, 
1848, 
madagascariensis (Madagascar). fl. white, clustered in 
— — — spathes, Tin. long: ; thyrse axillary, ute 
long. J. fla disposed, — ed, org at ba 
alternate. Reader tall, arboreous. Ma See Fig. 358, 
page 280. (F. d. 8. 1355; L H. 1860, 234.) SYN. ———— 
RAVENEA (named in honour of Louis Ravené, 
zealous promoter of horticulture at Berlin). ORD. — 
The species is a slender, stove palm, 
nearly allied to Hyophorbe. For culture, see Areca. 
ish-white, dicecious, 
j —— 
three-lo! f 
Janceolate, very acute, smooth, lieht — rachis cylin- 
dich h. (when mature) 10ft. Comoro Islands, 1878. 
Apra 
ental pena, in habit like some C 
ities LH L H. xxvii. 164.) 
P se 
Jl. in axillary, Jew-flowered cymes ; — 
