An Encyclopedia of Horticulture. 



279 



A common name for Calamus 



RATTAN CANE. 



Dnun. 



RATTLE, RED. A common name for Pedicularis 



sijlrat irii. 



See Rhinauthus Crista- 



RATTLE, YELLOW. 



galli. 



RATTWOLFIA (named in honour of Leonhard 

 Kauwolf. physician at Augsburg, wlio travelled through 

 Palestine and other Eastern countries in 1T.53-.5). In- 

 cluding Ophioxiilon. Ord. ApQcijnacea^. A genus com- 

 prising nearly forty species of stove, glabrous or rarely 

 Xniboscent 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 



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 Eats ascend- 

 ing the rods, but, aa already stated, their means of 

 ascent are not always confined to these. Hats are also 

 troublesome at times amongst wall fruit-trees outside, by 

 carrying away the fruit when ripening. Poison is the 

 most otfective 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 Kat (Mns decumanus) is now 

 almost the only kind of true Bat found in Britain, since 

 the Black Rat {Mu!i ratttis), formerly very abundant all 

 over the country, has disappeared before the Brown species, 

 probably devoiu'ed by the latter. Both are believed to 

 have entered Europe from Asia, and to have spread 

 westward — the Black Eat having come into Europe 

 about the twelfth century of our era, and the other in 

 the sixteenth century. The Brown Eat 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 Eat 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 Eat 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 Eat is the Water Bat, or water vole 

 (Arvicula amphibia), which is about the size of a small 

 Brown Rat, but is clumsier in form, with a blunt head, 

 short oars, 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 hurtful 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 (which 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. 



Rauwoliia — continued. 

 tube, a constricted throat, and five twisted lobes ; pe- 

 duncles alternating with the terminal leaves, few- 

 flowered, or di- or trichotomously branched ; cymelets 

 usually umbelliform. Drupes two, distinct or connate 

 in a two-stoned, bisulcate 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 readily. All are shrubs, except where otherwise 

 stated. 



R. densiflora (dense -flciwcveil). ./!. white, many in a shortly- 

 peilunculate cyme ; ei>iulla liiiili idmost equalling the tube. June. 

 /V. one-seeded. /. laTuenlate, .'u-inninate, approxiuijlting, sometimes 

 tiTiiate. It. 6ft. East Iiulies, 1824. (B. R. 1273, under name of 

 Taheniwimiiitaita (h'uf^i flora.) 

 R. majus (Iarj;;er). fl. in terminal cymes ; corolla white, smaller 

 than in Ji. ■•ierju'iitina. April, /r. violet, resembling an ulive in 

 shape. I. shortly petiolate, elliptic-oblong, acute, paler lieiieutli, 

 quaternately wliorled, entire, h. 4ft. Java, 1850. A robust 

 species. 

 R. nitida (shining). Jl. in terminal, few-flowered cymes, shorter 

 than the leaves; corolla wliite. August. ) r. at first yellow, 

 liecoming dark purple. siil)-i;lot>ose, bilohed. I. quaternate, ovate- 

 laiiceolate, acute at lioth ends, glabrous and shming, the JarRer 

 ones 4in. to 5in. long, l.'fin. to lAin. broad, h. 10ft. .Spain, 1752. 

 Tree. 

 R. serpentina (serpentine), fl. in sub-umltellate corymbs ; coroUa 

 winte or pink, narrow, nearly Jin. long. May. fi: red, globose. 

 I. Sin. to 6in. long, l^in. to 2Mn. l>road, menibr.anous, on petioles 

 lin. to 3in. long. h. scarcely more than 1ft. East Indies, 1690. 

 R. ternifolia (ternate-leaved). Jl. in axillaiy, few-flowered cymes ; 

 corolla wldte. May. .fr, about tlie size of a pea. I. ternate, 

 oblong, acuminate, acute at base, reticulate-veined, lAin. to 2in. 

 long, six to eiglit lines broad, on very short petioles, liranches 

 rarely warted.' Ii. 3ft. West Indies, 1823. {B. M. 2440.) 



RATTWOLFIA (of Ruiz aud_ Pavon). Included under 



Cilhair.yylinii. 



RAVENALA (said to be the native name of the plant 

 in Madagascar). Stn. Vmnia. Including Plienakonper- 

 niHin. Ord. t^cifanilnea;. 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 liigh as 30ft.), built up 

 of the sheaths of the leaf -stalks, the other parts of the 

 leaves having fallen off. B. madagascariensis is called 

 by the French the Traveller's Tree, probably on account 

 of the water which is stored up in the large, oup-Iike 

 sheaths of the leafstalks ; its seeds are edible. For 

 culture, see Musa. 



P. guianensia (tluiana). fl. white ; spathes seven, boat-shaped, 

 ileflexed, 1ft. to lift, long; scape tall. I. distichous, oval- 

 elongated, as long as the petioles, h. 15ft. Brazil and Guiana 

 1848. 



P. madagascariensis (Madagascar), fl. white, clustered in 

 .alternate, boat-shaped spathes, 7in. long; thyrse axillary, IJift. 

 long. I. flabelhitely disposed, long-stalked, sheatlied at b.i'se, 

 alternate. Caudex tall, .arboreous. Madagascar. Si'o l''ig. 558 

 page 280. (F. d. S. 1355 ; I. H. 1860, 234.) (Sv.x. rrania .■.pirivm. 



RAVENEA (named in honour of Louis Bavene, a 

 zealous promoter of horticulture at Berlin). Okd. Palmai. 

 A monotypic genus. The species is a slender, stove palm, 

 nearly allied to Hyophorhe. For culture, see Areca. 

 R. Hildebrandtii (Ilildi'luandt's)," ./;. greenish-white, diiecious, 

 on a siiii]i]\-tiiaMc!iril, stalked, Hesliv sjiadix ; calyx cup-shaped, 

 tlnee-lolird ; petals three, ohluMf;-lance(.late. I. long-stalked; 

 leaflets lanceolate, very acute, sniootii, Iif;tit green ; rachis cylin- 

 ilrical. /i. (when mature) lOit. Conioro Islands, 1878. A grace- 

 ful, ornamental palm, in habit like some C'hama?doreas. (B. M. 

 6776 ; I. H. xxvii. 164.) 



