DICOTYLEDONOUS. 



94 



DIDYMOCAEPUS. 



arhoreiis) is merely a wood.v kind of 

 Carnation ; and the Jlule Pink is a 

 hybrid between the Carnation and 

 the Sweet- William. They both re- 

 quire only the common treatment of 

 border-flowers. The leaves of all 

 the kinds of Pinks and Carnations 

 are called by gardeners the grass . 



The greenhouse species of Dianthus 

 grow freely in light rich mould, with 

 a moderate allowance of air and 

 water ; and they do not require any 

 pai-ticular care in their cultui-e. They 

 are all very ornamental, and they are 

 propagated by cuttings, which strike 

 readily, and do not require bottom- 

 heat. 



For the culture oi Dianthus har- 

 hatus, see Sweet-William. D. chi- 

 mnsis, the Chinese Pink, is generally 

 treated as a hardy annual ; but it may 

 be preserved in dry soil for two or 

 three years. 



Dibber. — A short piece of wood, 

 about thethickness of a spade handle, 

 made with a place for the hand at the 

 upper end and a sharp point below ; 

 used for making holes in the soil to 

 plant potatoes, &c. 



DicHORiSANDRA, — Commelinece. 

 — A curious stove-plant, which pro- 

 duces its showy flowers (which are 

 dark blue, with a pure white centre 

 and bright yellow stamens) from the j 

 root. It is a native of Brazil. 



Dicotyledonous plants have 

 seeds which separate into two or ] 

 more cotyledons or seed-leaves, when ; 

 they vegetate : and this class com- j 

 prehends three-fourths of all the 

 known plants in the world. They i 

 have all reticulated leaves, that is, 

 leaves the veins in which appear like 

 net- work when held up to the light ; 

 and the ligneous species have the 

 thickness of their stems increased 

 every year by successive layers of ; 

 new wood, deposited on the outside ! 

 of the old wood immediately under i 

 the bark. In all these points, and i 



many others less conspicuous, they 

 difi'er from the monocotyledonous 

 plants, or those the seeds of which 

 have only one seed leaf or cotyledon. 



Dicta'mxus. — Butdcece. — Fraxi- 

 nella. — There are two species, the 

 purple and the white, both hardy 

 perennials, and both natives of Ger- 

 many. The leaves have a pleasant 

 smell, like lemon-peel, when rubbed, 

 and the plant emits a phosphoric 

 vapour, which may be easily ignited 

 by a candle, and bums like gas . The 

 flowers are very ornamental ; and 

 the plants v^-ill grow in any common 

 garden-soil, and in any situation not 

 immediately under the drip of trees. 

 They are increased by division of the 

 root. 



Dictyaxthus. — Asclepiadece. — 

 A climbing plant, resembling in its 

 flowers some kind of Stapelia, but 

 having five very curious hollow re- 

 cesses in the cup of the flower. It 

 is a native of New Granada, and 

 requires a stove in this country. 



DiDi'scus. — Umhelliferce. — The 

 beautiful Australian plants, some- 

 times called by this name, and some- 

 times by that of Trachjmene, are 

 half-hardy annuals, that require to 

 be raised on a hotbed, and not 

 planted out till May or June. In 

 very cold exposed situations, they 

 are generally grown in pots, and 

 kept in the greenhouse ; but they 

 never flovv er so well as in the open 

 ground. The best way to grow them 

 is to sow the seed in autumn as soon 

 as it can be procured foom the seed- 

 shops, on a slight hotbed, to pot the 

 plants as soon as they have formed 

 their second pair of leaves, and to 

 keep the pots in a frame or green- 

 house, shifting the plants occasion- 

 ally, till the following spring, when i 

 they may be planted in the open ! 

 ground in a light rich soil, and they j 

 will flower beautifully. j 



DiBYhioCA'RFUS.—Oyrtandracece. > 



