D I O 



D I R 



corners ij a cell (cocculus), containing one ed, foiir-clcfi : divisions roundish, rolled back? 

 smooth, shining, oblono:, black sced:~'these the stamina consist of eight filanitnts, very short, 

 soed-vtssels abound witlf rc.-in, which afford a inserted into the receptacle: anthers double, long, 

 iiratct'ul scent, as does also the whole plant. sharp : the interior shorter : the pistillum a rudi- 



'I'he third is a plant of humbler growth, scl- ment of a germ, 

 dciiu fibove three feet high, and spreads out into The species cultivated are : 1. D. Lohts, Eu- 

 uiany l)ranehcs ; the leaves resembling those of ropean Date Plumj 2. D. Firginiana, Ameri- 

 hcath : the flowers are in clusters at the ends of can Date Plum. 



the branches, like those of the second sort, but The first rises with a tree-like stem to the 

 sinailcr, and the bunches not so large, of a red height of six feet ; the smaller branches spread a 

 colour. little, and are yellowish : the leaves oval-lancco- 



The fourth is a low bushy shrub, which seldom late, large, quite entire, paltr underneath, some- 

 rises above two feet high, but spreads out its what hoary, with the veins ^somewhat hairy: 

 branches far on every side : the leaves are nar- the flowers arc small, reddish-whitc, rotate : 

 row and smooth, of a light green colour, being the fruit tlifi size of a cherry, yellow when 

 rankled on each side the branches, appear flat on ripe, sweet with astringency. It is a native of 

 the upper and underside; when ihey are bruised, Europe. 



thev emit a very strong penetrating odour : the The second species rises here to the height of 

 flovvers are produced singly from between the from fourteen to sixteen feet, commonly divi- 

 ieaves ; are white, and tinged on their upper sur- ding into many irregular trunks near the ground 7 

 tace. The Hottentots am said to use it to scent the'wood is very hard, but brittle and somew hat 

 their ointments. white : the branches are many, and grow slen- 



Cultiire. — These plants may be increased by der to the end, covered with a very thin greenish 

 planting the cuttings of the young shoots in the bark : the leaves many, broad, green, without 

 spring or sunnner months, in pots filled with good dent or notch on the edges, so like the former, 

 mould, pi uniting them in a moderate hot-bed. that it seems at first to be the same; it has a 

 When the plants have stricken good root, they dark brown bark on the branches, but on 

 should be carefully taken up and placed out sepa- the twigs it is grayish : the fruit is in form and 

 rately in pots, proper water and shade being bigness like a Date, very firm as that fruit, al- 

 eiven. Tliey afterwards require to be protected most as sweet, with a great flat thick large 

 in the nreen-house, and have the management of kernel within. It is a native of Virginia and 

 other shrubby exotic plants of similar growth. Carolina. 



These plaiits, IVom the bcaut\' of their bloom Culture. — The method of propagation in these- 

 and the fragrant smell that is emitted by m;iny plants is by sowing the seeds in a warm sit.ua- 

 of them, are highly deserving of places in shrub- tion in the open ground in the spring; but h is 

 by collections. ' better when done in pots or boxes filled w ith 



DlOSl'YROS, a genus aflbrding plants of good earth, and plunged into a moderate hot- 

 the deciduous shrubby flowering exotic kin-l. bed, as they rise more quickly, and advance \vith 



It belongs to the class and order Po/i/gamia greater rapidity. When the plants have attained 

 D'wp.cici, and ranks in the natural order of some growth, they should be gradually exposed 

 B'uvrnts. to the open air until the autumn, when those liv 



The characters are: that in the hermaphrodite the full ground should be carefully protected 

 female the calyx is a onc-lcafcd, four-cleft from frost ljy mats or other means, aiid those in 

 perianthiuni, large, obtuse, permanent: the co- pots placed under a garden frame on moderate 

 rolla one-petallcd, pitcher-shaped, larger, four- h-eat ; free air being admitted when the weather 

 cleft; divisions sharp, spreading : the stamina is mild. Early in the following spring, they 

 ronsist of ei-ht filaments, bristle-form, short, should he removed, and planted out in a warm 

 almost ins<'ned into the receptacle: anthers situation in the nursery at proper distances, to 

 rWong, unproductive; the pistillum is a round- remain two or more years ; when they will be 

 ~isii i?erm : style single, half four-cleft, per- fit to be finally put where they are to remain. 

 luanent, longer than the stamens: s'igmas These plants are proper for the large clumps, 

 obtuse, two-cleft; the pcricarpium is a globose borders, and other partsof shrubberies, being sut- 

 bcrry, larae, eight-celled, sitting on a very large ficiently hardy when oFproper gro-wth to resist the 

 spreadin^'^calyx; theseed solitary, roundish, com- effects of frost ; where they have a good eflect, 

 pressed, and very hard : male in :i distinct plant : not only from their flowers, but the shming green 

 the calyx is a one-leafed, four ckfl perianthiuni, appearance of their leaves, 

 sharp, ' upright, small; the corolla one-pe- DIRCA, a genus containing a plant of the 

 tailed, pllcbcr-shapod, leathery, four-corner- low deciduous hardy exotic kind. 



