301 



JASIONE. 



JATROPHA. 



Mr. Swainsou, who, in his 'Zoological Illustrations,' has given 

 beautifully correct figures of J. fragilis and /. globosa, justly remarks 

 that the shells are so brittle that it is rare to find them perfect. 



M. De Blainville is inclined to think that those shells which are 

 notched b.long to females. 



Shell of Common Oceanic Snail (Janthina fragilis]. 



Fossil Jantkina. Mr. G. B. Sowerby (' Genera') states that he has 

 never seen any fossil species of this genus, nor is he aware that any 

 exist, but he refers to a fossil engraved in ' Min. Con.,' pi. 1 0, which 

 bears a very near resemblance to it. The fossil is named, in the 

 valuable work alluded to. Helix carinata, and the solid gray lime- 

 atone near Settle in Yorkshire is said to be the locality.. 



JASION'E, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Campanul'-tcece. It has a 5-leaved rotate calyx, anthers cohering at the 

 base, a hairy trifid style, 2-celled capsules, opening by a large and 

 somewhat valvular pore at the base. There is but one British species 

 of this genua 



J. mantana, Sheep's Scabious, has a simple root, bluntish oblong 

 wavy leaves, and stalked flowers. The stems are from 6 inches to 

 2 feet long, pilose, simple, or branched, leafy below, bare and glabrous 

 above, and ascend from the crown of the root. The flowers are 

 small, in terminal bracteated heads, having a light blue corolla. 



(Babington, Manual of Britiih Botany.) 



JASMI>fA'CE.iE, Jaiminworts, a natural order of Mouopetalous 

 Exogens, deriving its name from the Jamiinum, which forms one of 

 its genera. It is one of the very few orders of that class with regular 

 diandrous flowers, and is only to be mistaken for Oleacea, which 

 have a valvate corolla, and which otherwise are scarcely different. 

 Only five genera of this order have yet been discovered, the principal 

 being Jatminum itself, which consists of a large number of species, 

 sometimes fragrant, sometimes scentless, erect or twining, inhabiting 

 the hot or temperate regions of Europe, Africa, and Asia, including 

 Australia, but hardly known hi America. The order is characterised 

 by having opposite or alternate, simple or compound exstipulate 

 leaves ; monopetalous flowers, the segments of whose corolla are 

 imbricated, and seldom correspond with those of the calyx ; two 

 stamens, and a superior 2-celled few-seeded ovary. The species, about 

 100 in number, are chiefly valued for their fragrance ; a few species 

 have been regarded as bitter and astringent. [JASMINUM.] 



Common Jamine (Jtaminum officinalt). 



1, al ongitndlnal section of the corolla ; 2, a longitudinal section of the ovary 

 and calyx. 



JASMIIVUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Jcuminacea. It has a tubular 5- or 8-cli-ft calyx ; a 5- or 8-parted 

 corolla ; stigma 2-lobed or bifid ; berry didymous, having one of the 

 lobes usually abortive ; seeds without albumen. The species are 

 usually twining shrubs. Leaves simple or compound ; petioles arti- 

 culated ; flowers white or yellow. 



/. Sambac, Single-Flowered Arabian Jasmine, is a twining plant; the 



leaves almost sessile, membranous, from cordate to oblong, acute or 

 obtuse, glabrous ; berries globular ; branches, petioles, and peduncles 

 downy. It is a native of the East Indies. The flowers generally 

 form small trichotomous umbellets, white and fragrant. The berries 

 are black. A perfume, known as Oil of Jasmine, is obtained from 

 this species. 



/. anguntifolinm, Narrow-Leaved Jasmine, is a native of the Coro- 

 mandel coast. It is a twining bright plant, with ovate or oblong 

 leaves, smooth, of a shining deep-green colour. The flowers are large, 

 white, with a faint tinge of red, star-shaped, having a peculiar but 

 very pleasing fragrance. The bitter root of this species, ground small 

 and mixed with powdered AcWus Calamus root, is considered in 

 India as a valuable external application in cases of ringworm. The 

 plant being constantly covered with leaves of a bright deep-green, 

 sometimes as small as those of Box, render it always beautiful and 

 well adapted for screening windows and covering arbours in warm 

 climates. 



/. officinale, Common Jasmine, is a native of the South of Europe. 

 It has opposite leaves, pinnate ; leaflets ovate-aecuminate ; buds erectish. 

 The plant is glabrous, the branches angular. Calycine segments 5, 

 subulate ; corolla white, 4- or 5-cleft, sweet-scented ; the terminal 

 leaflet is the longest. The Common Jasmine has been a favourite 

 wall-shrub from time immemorial. Its native country, as well as the 

 date of its introduction, are unknown. Gerarde in 1597 says it was 

 in common use for covering arbours. There are golden and silver- 

 edged leaved varieties of the Common Jasmine, as well as a double 

 flowered variety. 



J. grandiflorum has opposite pinnate leaves, leaflets bluntish, the 

 outer ones 3- to 5-confluent, buds horizontal. It is a native of the 

 East Indies, and greatly resembles /. officinale, except in the size of 

 the leaflets and in the exterior ones being confluent and the flowers 

 larger and reddish underneath. Both this and the former species 

 yield the true essential oil of jasmine of the shops. 



The leaves of /. undulatum are slightly bitter. The root of 

 /. pubescent is thought to be elexiterio. 



(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom.) 



JASPER. [QUARTZ.] 



JASSA, a genus of Amphipodous Crustacea, established by Dr. 

 Leach. 



The general characters resemble those of Corophium, Latr. ; but 

 differ from them as well as from those of Podocerus, Leach, in the 

 considerable size of the hands of the first four feet, which are oval ; 

 those of the second pair being the greatest, and armed with teeth 

 more or less numerous on the internal border. Eyes not projecting. 



Dr. Leach records two species, one, Jassa pulchella, from the south 

 coast of Cornwall, where it was fouud hi the midst of sea-weed ; the 

 other, Jassa, Pelagica, found near the Bell Rock, Scotland. 



JATROPHA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Eupkorbiaceoe. It has monoecious flowers ; a 5-parted or lobed 

 calyx; corolla 5-parted or absent; stamens 8 or 10, with unequal 

 monadelphous filaments ; styles 2, bifid or dichotomous ; capsule 

 3-coecous. 



J. Curcas, Physic-Nut, is a very common small tree, or bush, on 

 the coast of Coromandel. The bark is smooth and light ash-coloured ; 

 leaves scattered, stalked, broad, cordate, 5-angled, smooth, about 6 

 inches each way ; petioles round, smooth, 4 to 6 inches long ; stipules 

 absent ; panicles terminal or from the exterior axils cymose, bearing 

 many small yellow flowers. The male flowers at the extremities of 

 the ramifications on short articulated pedicels, and the female ones 

 in their divisions with their pedicels not articulated. Bracts, a small 

 one below each subdivision of the panicle, and generally one pressing 

 on the calyx ; calyx 5-leaved ; corolla 5-petaled, campanulate, some- 

 what hairy ; disc of 5 glandular bodies round the base of the filaments ; 

 filaments 6, the central one very thick, columnar, the 5 exterior ones 

 filiform towards the base, adhering to the central one, all erect, and a 

 little longer than the calyx ; anthers 10, sagittate, equal: 5 supported 

 by the large general filament, and 1 by each of the others. The 

 leaves are rubefacient and discutient ; warmed and rubbed with castor- 

 oil, they are applied by the natives of India as poultices. The seeds 

 are violently emetic and drastic ; their expressed oil is reckoned a 

 good application in itch and herpes, and also, a little diluted, iu 

 rheumatism. The milky juico is considered detergent and healing ; 

 it dyes linen black. The oil boiled with oxide of iron forms a varnish 

 used by the Chinese for covering boxes. In large doses the seeds are 

 energetic poisons. 



J. glauca is found in Arabia Felix. It has leaves from 3-5-lobed, 

 mucronate, serrate, toothed ; petioles naked ; stipules palmate, with 

 setaceous branched divisions, glandular at the apex. The seeds 

 yield a stimulating oil recommended by the Hindoos as an external 

 application in cases of rhaumatic and paralytic affections. 



/. ylandulifera is a native of the East Indies. The leaves about 

 the extremities of the branchlets are alternate, petioled, and generally 

 palmate ; the lobes from 3 to 6, oblong, serrate, with each serrature 

 ending in a short green glandular-headed bristle ; stipules bristly, 

 many-cleft, each division ending in a glandular head ; panicles ter- 

 minal, about as long as the leaves. Male flowers most numerous and 

 terminal, small, of a pale yellowish green colour. The female flowers 

 few, and subsessile in the divisions of the panicle. The pale or 



