LTCIUM. 



LYCOPEIIDON. 



L. ntffrlina. White Campion, ha* the petals half-bifid, and the 

 ralyx-tecth of the fertile flower* linear-lanceolate, elongated ; the cap- 

 rale conical ; the teeth erect It U a common plant in the hedge-bank* 

 of Europe. Thin and the following specie* are frequently regarded as 

 varieties, and then named L. ilioica, 



L. dmrita. Red Campion, hu the petal* half-bifid ; the calyx-teeth 

 of the fertile flower triangular ; the capsule nearly globular ; the teeth 

 reflexed. 



The other British specie* of the genus Lycknit are/.. Qithago, tlic 

 Corn-Cockle, a pretty plant blossoming in corn-field* from June to 

 September ; L. alpina, found on the mountains of Forfarshiro ; and 

 /.. ritcaria, a rare plant 



Many of the foreign specie* are cultivated in our gardens. They 

 thrive well in a light rich loamy soil, and may be propagated by 

 cuttings or seeds. 



(Don, DicUamydtoui Plaxli : Babington, Manual of Brit'uh Botany.) 



LYCIUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Solan- 

 acetr. It has an urceolate calyx regularly 6-toothed, or irregularly 

 3-5-cleft ; permanent corolla funnel-shaped or tubular ; limb 6- or 

 10-cleft, or toothed, imbricate in resti ration, sometimes plicate ; stamens 

 5, usually exserted ; filaments banded and widened at we base ; stigma 

 peltately depressed, or capitate, bisulcate ; berry roundish, 2 -celled, 

 propped by the permanent calyx ; placentas adnate ; seeds numerous, 

 reniform. The species are trees or shrubs usually spinose. Corollas 

 whit.', yellow, rose-coloured, purple, blue, or scarlet 



L. Ewnpa-um has erect loose branches ; buds spinescent ; leaves 

 fascicled, obovate, lanceolate, obtuse, or spathulate, bent obliquely ; 

 flowers twin or solitary ; corolla funnel-shaped ; stamens exserted, but 

 shorter than the limb. It is a native of the south of Europe and the 

 north of Africa : in the Grecian Islands common in hedges, but scarcely 

 indigenous. The calyx is 5-cleft, ruptured at the side : the corollas 

 pale violet, reticulated with red veins ; tube greenish. Clusius says 

 that the young shoots are eaten in Spain with oil and vinegar. 



L. Barbarom has dependent branches ; bud* spiny ; leaves lanceo- 

 late, flat, glabrous, acute; flowers twin, extra-axillnry, pedicellate; 

 corolla funnel-shaped ; stamens exserted, about equal in length to the 

 limb. It is a native of the north of Asia, Africa, and south of Europe. 

 There is a variety having pale corollas and yellowish red berries. 



There are about 30 species of this genus described, many of which 

 are to be found in our gardens. They are commonly known by the 

 name of Box-Thorn. 



I.Y'CIt'M. Many ancient authors, and among others Dioscorides, 

 describe under the above name a substance as used in medicine, 

 which is stated to be of two kinds; one obtained from Lycia and 

 Cappadocia, and the other from India. The former is said to be the 

 produce of a thorny shrub called Pyxacantha. The latter is stated 

 to be more valuable and efficacious as a medicine, and to be pro- 

 duced also by a thorny shrub which is called Lonchitit. 



Most modern author* have stated these plants and the substance 

 they produce to be totally unknown ; others consider species of 

 JOkamnut, or the Common Box, to be alluded to. Prosper Alpinus 

 thought Berbrrii Cretico, to be one of the plants ; while Gordon ab 

 Orto thought Catechu to be the substance, and Acacia Catechu the 

 plant yielding it It is possible that some species of JUiamnut, as 

 K. ia/rcioritu, of which both the root, wood, and berries possess 

 medicinal properties, and which are in the present day used for dyeing 

 yellow, may have formed one of the kinds of Lyciuin, as it is common 

 to the countries where the firxt kind is said to have been produced, 

 and some species of llhamnut were by the older botanists called 

 Ijycium. Though there in uncertainty about the Lyoium of Asia 

 Minor, that of India seemed to have been quite unknown until the 

 publication of a paper ' On the Lyciuin of Dioscorides,' by Dr. Royle, 

 in the 'Linnican Society's Transactions' for 1833, where it is stated 

 that there is no proof that Catechu was the AUKIOC '\vttx6r (Lycium. 

 /</iat) of the ancients ; in fact is incompatible with the evidence 

 adduced on the subject from Oriental writer*. The Greek authors 

 on medicine having been translated into Arabic, and from this language 

 into Persian, and these, with additions, forming the works now in use 

 in India, we may expect to find in them some trace of Lycium ; and 

 in fact in that called Makbxun-al-L'dwieb, Loofyon is mentioned as 

 the plant which yield* Huziz, and in Persian it is called Frcl-Zukreh. 

 Ixxofjon is evidently written for Ixwkyon, through an error of the 

 transcriber in a diacritical point, in the same way that Kilafoo* (1'liilip 

 of Macedon) has bean changed in some of these works into Kilakoos. 

 This is farther evident indeed from referring to the Utin transition* 

 of tVrapkm and Avicenna, where Uadad and Keel-Zuhuraj are 

 translated l,y,m and l.yctom hdittim. In the Persian work, Hoo/uz 

 r.r H.Kiziz (the same word a* Hadad) is described as being of two 

 kind* : one from India, of which the Hindoo name is Kusot ; and 

 the other from Arabia. The Persian name Feel-Zuhreh i* translated 

 in our bnt dictionaries ' box-thorn,' that is, Pt/jracanika. The best 

 kiti-1 "f Kusot is said, in the Mnkhzun-aM'dwieh, to be brought from 

 Nuggur-Knte in the nrightiourhood of Lahore, and that it is an 

 extract made from a decoction of the fresh wood of Dar-Huld. On 

 inquiring in the (hops of the druggist* in the bazaars of India, Dr. R. 

 learned that both the wood DarHuld and the extract Kusot wore 

 imported into the plains of India from the Himalayas. On travelling 

 in these mountains, and on wUhing to be shown the plant which 



produced the wood called Dar-Huld as well a* that from which the 

 Kusot was procured, species of Barberry were immediately pointed 

 out, and it was stated that both the wood and the extract were 

 procured indifferently from Berbrri* Anatica, B. aiutata, B. Lycium, 

 and B. pinnala. On cutting into the wood of each, and having some 

 converted into extract, be found both to correspond in every respect 

 with what he had bought in the plains under the name of Dar-Huld 

 and Rusot. The extract Rusot is procurable in the bazaars of India, 

 being much employed by the native practitioners of medicine in 

 India, as an external application rubbed over the swollen eye-lid 

 either simply or in combination with opium and alum and a little 

 water or oil, both in incipient and chronic inflammation of the eye. 

 The wood of Barberry being employed both in Europe and India as 

 a yellow dye, it has been suggested by Mr. E. Solly, in a paper read 

 before the Royal Asiatic Society, that the root, wood, or extract 

 might be imported from India for the use of the manufacturers of 

 Europe. This notice may appear disproportioned to the importance 

 of the subject, but it is interesting as showing the knowledge whicli 

 the Greeks bad of the products of India, at the name time tint it 

 proves the great extent to which the influence of their own works 

 has spread. 



LY'CODON, a genus of Ophidian Reptiles, of which L. Cajxniii, 

 Smith (L. llontokii, Schlegel), may be taken as an example. This 

 snake is shining greenish-brown above, head without variations, and 

 the scales along the middle of the back less distinctly marked with 

 white specks than those of the sides. 



Li/cuduii C.jcniii, var. Su.itli. 



Dr. Smith, who recorded this species in 1831, in the 'South African 

 Quarterly Journal,' figures and describes, in the 4th number of the 

 ' Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa ' (1838), a variety of a 

 shining blackish-green colour above, tinged with purple, the head 

 reticulated with white lines, and the scales white at the tips ; greenish- 

 yellow below ; eyes livid-green. Length from nose to tail 1 2 inches ; 

 of the tail 2 inches. 



The variety above described was found among decayed wood, near 

 a small stream, immediately beyond Kurrichane, about 25 S. lot 



" When," continues Dr. Smith, " by the removal of some of the 

 rotten masses, the reptile was exposed, it moved slowly among the 

 remaining ones in search of a place of concealment ; and when it was 

 interrupted in its advance, it simply coiled itself up without manifest- 

 ing any disposition to resist the opposition offered ; a similar course I 

 had previously observed others of the same species pursue when 

 attempts were made to secure them ; and neither did the one here 

 described nor the others ever move with any considerable rapidity, nor 

 appear much in fear of their assailants. All the specimens which I 

 have seen of this species were obtained in damp situations, and never 

 remote from localities where they could rapidly and without much 

 exertion conceal themselves if necessary ; and in the latter respect 

 they resemble most of the innocuous snakes of South Africa, which 

 are not endowed with the powers of effecting rapid movements." 



LYCOPERDACE,, or GASTEROMYCETES, on order of PlanU 

 belonging to Lindley's Alliance Pungaltt, characterised by having the 

 spores generally quaternate on distinct sporophores; hyiniMiiuin 

 inclosed in a peridium. [Ki MM.] 



I.Vml'KUDINA. [EcMOlU'HUg.] 



I.VCUPERDON, a genus of Fungi, emitting when burnt, cither by 

 violence or natural dchiscence, o quantity of dust-like seeds or uporrs. 

 whence the species are commonly called Puff-Balis. Tim old hot 

 collected under this name a variety of plants, very different from each 

 other in many respect*, although agreeing in the circumstance juxt 

 mentioned ; recent writers have distinguished them ns so many 

 distinct genera. The only two which it is necessary to mention here 

 ore the Common Puff-Bolls, which burst irregularly, and the Starry 

 Piiff-l Sails, which split in a definite stellate manner. They are each 

 inhabitants of meadow*, postures, woods, lawns, &c., and some of the 

 species are exceedingly common. When the Common Puff-Ball, L. 

 gemmatum, firt appears, it forms a whitish ball, looking like a common 

 eatable mushroom, but by degrees it changes colour, becomes brown, 

 and tearing irregularly at the apex, discharges a cloud of brownish 

 dust, connoting entirely of its spores. The Qeasters, Starry 1'nll'- 

 lialls, are much less common ; instead of bursting irregularly at the 

 ]>ex when ripe, their outer rind separates into a definite number of 

 lobes, which spread open, curve backwards, ond at last elevate upon 

 their centre a bag containing the spores, No use bos ever been mode 



