10S7 



NAKED SEEDS. 



NARDUS. 



1058 



nail grows by additions to its base, but as it moves upwards it receives 

 additional matter from the portions of the skin on which it rests. M. 

 Beau states that the rate of growth of ^uails is 2-5ths of a line per 

 week, and that the growth of the nails of the toes is only 1-1 Oth of a 

 line per week. M. Beau states that during disease growth is not so 

 active in the nail, and that it becomes thinner also from tha absence 

 of healthy nutrition. In this way he states that the condition of the 

 nails may be made subservient to the diagnosis of disease. When 

 the nail is injured, provided the skin beneath has not been destroyed, 

 it is speedily reproduced. The nail is in every part continuous with 

 the true epidermis, except on its projecting edge, which in the foetus 

 is also continuous with the epidermis. (Carpenter, Principles j>f 

 Human Physiology.) 



NAKED SEEDS. This name was applied by Linnajus to a small 

 form of fruit which does not directly bear a style at the apex, and 

 which has the appearance of a seed, as in the Lamiaceas, to which the 

 Sage, the Dead-Nettie, the Borage, &c., belong ; such fruits are now- 

 called Spermidia by many writers. Naked seeds, strictly so named, 

 are seeds which are fertilised by immmediate contact witli pollen, and 

 which have no pericarpial covering ; they are at present known only 

 in the great class of Gymnogens, that is to say, in Conifera, Cycadacece, 

 and Lnranthacecs. [SEED.] s 



NANDOU. [SlRUTHlONID^.] 



NANI'NA (Gray), a genus of Afoliiaca, consisting of the phanorbicu- 

 lar spe<-ies of Helix, with large umbilici, included in the sub-genus 

 Jfelicelia, of De FeYussac. 



NANODES. [PSITTACID*.] 



NANOTRAGUS. [ANTILOFE*.] 



NAPE-CRESTS, the English name for the species of Birds belong- 

 ing to the genus Chizcerhis, [MasopHAGiD*.] 



NAPHTHA is a compound of Carbon and Hydrogen, frequently found 

 in the neighbourhood of coal-deposits, and in other parts of the earth. 

 It contains 82"2 of carbon and 14'8 of hydrogen. It is a limpid or 

 yellowish fluid, lighter than water, and hence called Mineral Oil. Its 

 specific gravity is 07 to 0'84. It hardens and changes to the substance 

 called Petroleum on exposure to air. It may be obtained from 

 Petroleum by heat, which causes it to pass off in vapour. 



Naphtha issues in large quantities from the earth in Persia and the 

 Birman Empire. At Rangoon, on one of the branches of the river Ira- 

 waddy, there are upwards of 500 naphtha and petroleum wells, which 

 afford annually 412,000 hogsheads. In the peninsula of Abcheran, on 

 the western shore of the Caspian, naphtha rises through a marly soil 

 in vapour, and is collected by sinking pits several yards in depth, into 

 which the naphtha flows. There is an abundant spring near Amiana, 

 in the Duchy of Parma. Mr. Dana says that in the United States it 

 was formerly collected for sale by the Seneca and other Indians ; the 

 petroleum is therefore commonly called Genesee or Seneca Oil, under 

 which name it is sold in the market. 



Petroleum is used as lamp-oil in Birma, and when mixed with 

 earth or ashes as fuel. Naphtha is used both for fuel and light by the 

 inhabitants of Bakou, on the Caspian. The vapour is made to pass 

 through earthen tubes, and is inflamed as it passes out, and used in 

 cooking. The spring at Amiana is used for illuminating the city of 

 Genoa. 



Naphtha has been recently used as a medicine, and is found to be 

 a good stimulant in some chronic diseases. It has been externally 

 applied as a lotion in cutaneous affections. It is sometimes substituted 

 for drying oil in making paint. It is also employed for preserving the 

 metals of the alkalies potassium and sodium, which cannot be kept in 

 contact with any substance containing oxygen. 



The Rangoon petroleum contains the compound Paraffine. This 

 substance has also been obtained pure in a liquid form from the coal- 

 pits of Derbyshire. It is used for the purpose of diminishing the 

 friction of machinery as a substitute for sperm-oil. It is now obtained 

 artificially from coal, and also in a solid form, from which candles are 

 made. [PARAFFINE, in ARTS AND Sc. Div.] 



(Dana, Manual of Mineralogy; Gregory, Handbook of Oryanic 

 Ckemittry.) 



NAPOLEANA. [BELVISIACE*.] 



NAPU. [MOSCHID*.] 



NAPUS. [BRASSICA.] 



NARCISSALES. [ENDOOENS.] 



NARCISSUS, a genus of Plants belonging to the class Endogens 

 and the natural order Amaryllidacece, among which it is known by its 

 flowers growing upon a scape, and having a cup at their mouth ; the 

 stamens, which are opposite the sepals being longer than the others. 

 It consists of bulbous plants principally inhabiting the warmer parts 

 of Europe. 



The following is the arrangement of the European species of this 

 genus given in Mr. Wood's ' Tourist's Flora :' 



A , Leaves flat, linear, obtuse ; tube of corolla short, obversely 



conical ; crown campanulate, dentate. 



It. Pteudonarcittui, the Daffodil. Scape 2 edged, striate ; flowers 

 nearly egile in sheath ; crown erect, nearly as long as segments of 

 corolla ; stamens equal. It is found in woods and meadows through- 

 out Europe. 



N. minor, a native of Europe. 

 WAT. HMT. DIV. VOL. Ill 



N. incompambilis has the scape, 2-edged. It is found in France 

 and Italy and the coasts of the Mediterranean, and is naturalised in 

 Great Britain. 



B. Leaves nearly flat; flowers hypocrateriform. ' * 



I. Scape nearly terete. 



N. calathinut. Scape 2-4-flowered. A native of the Isles of Glenans 

 and of Brittany. 



N. dubius. Scape 2-6-flowered. Mediterranean and France. 



N. cltrysanthus. Scape 3-10-flowered. Found near Grasse, in France. 



II. Scape 2-edged. 

 a. Crown yellow. 



N. poeticus. Scape 1-flowered ; petals white. It is found on open 

 heathy fields in Norfolk and Kent, in Great Britain ; it is also found 

 in Austria and various parts of Italy. 



N. radiijlorus. Scape 1-flowered ; striate. It is found in Austria, 

 Styria, and the Vallais. 



N. biflorus, with linear-obtuse keeled leaves ; scape compressed, 2- 

 edged, striated, 2-flowered, crowned, very short, concave, crenate at 

 the pale margin ; the petals of a pale sulphur colour. It is found in 

 sandy fields in the south of England, and in Ireland ; also in France 

 and Italy. 



N. pattUus, !?. prcecox, and N. Tazetta, are other European species 

 belonging to this section. 



b. Crown and petals white. 



N. polyanthus. Scape slightly 2-edged, 8-20-flowered. It is found 

 near Toulon and Nice, in stony places. 



N. niveus. Scape 6-10-flowered. It is a native of France. 



ff. urticolor. Scape 10-15-flowered. It is found at the base of 

 Vesuvius. 



0. Leaves convoluto-setaceous. 



N. terotinut. Scape 1-flowered. It is found near Palermo, on 

 open hills. 



N. cupanianus has the scape 1-7-flowerecl, and is found on the coasts 

 of Corsica, Sardinia, Calabria, and Sicily. 



D. Leaves semi-cylindrical and channeled. 



N. la-tus has the scape 1-3-flowered. Found near Grasse, in France. 



N. ochroleucus. Scape 4-8-flowered. Found in fields near Toulon. 



N. odorus. Scape 1-5-flowered. It is found in the fields and olive- 

 grounds of Lucca. 



N. Jonquilla, the Jonquil. Scape 2-6-flowered. It is found in 

 Italy. N. intermedius is probably a variety of this species. 



N. Bulbocodium. Scape 1-flowered. A native of heaths in France. 



The species, from their hardiness or gay colours, or sweet smell, 

 have long been favourite objects of cultivation, especially the Daffodils, 

 Jonquils, and Tazettas. A very full account of them will be found 

 in the ' Amaryllidaceao ' of the Honourable and Reverend William 

 Herbert, p. 292 (Svo., London, 1837), who however divides the genus 

 into six others, after the example of Salisbury and Haworth ; but as 

 those genera are not likely to be adopted by botanists, with the excep- 

 tion perhaps of the genus Corbiilaria, no account need be given of 

 them. With regard to Corbularia, to which the name of Hoop-Petticoat 

 Narcissus is given, and of which five supposed species are enumerated, 

 the peculiar form of the flower and the delicate stamens of that plant 

 may perhaps entitle it to be regarded as a peculiar genus ; the species 

 are pretty, all yellow flowered, with the single exception of C. cantabrica, 

 a little plant with white flowers found on the mountains of Biscay and 

 the Pyrenees, but now lost in our gardens. 



NARDO'STACHYS, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural 

 order Valei'ianacece. The limb of the calyx is 5-parted ; the lobes 

 ovate, oblong, acute, leafy, somewhat toothed and permanent ; the 

 corolla is regular, ecalcarate, obtusely 5-lobed and bearded in the 

 throat ; there are 4 stamens, which are attached to the bottom of the 

 corolla. The species are herbs with sweet-scented perennial roots, 

 which are beset with erect fibres at the neck. 



JV. Jatamansi is a dwarf herbaceous plant with a long hairy tap- 

 root. The stems are perennial, very short, and simply divided into a 

 number of shaggy scaly crowns, from which the leaves are produced; 

 the branches erect, downy, and a few inches high ; leaves obovate, 

 lanceolate, 5-ribbed, downy, those at the base acute, the upper ones 

 obtuse ; the flowers are of a pale pink colour, clustered in the axils of 

 the upper leaves, which form a kind of involucre for them. It is a 

 native of Nepaul, on the Himalaya Mountains, aud in Delhi, Bengal, 

 and the Deccan. This species is the true Spikenard of the ancients, 

 and is esteemed not only as a perfume but as a stimulant medicine. 

 Oriental writers give it as a remedy for a multitude of diseases, and 

 it seems to be really valuable in cases of epilepsy and hysteria. 



N. grandijlora has a glabrous stem, oblong glabrous leaves, with 

 solitary terminal flowers ; the capsule is downy, and the lobes of the 

 calyx evidently denticulated. It is a native of Nepaul aud Kumaon. 



(Lindley, flora Medica.) 



NARDUS, a genus of Grasses belonging to the tribe RotbeUix. It 

 bas the spikelets in two rows on one side of the rachis of one flower ; 

 jlumes absent ; outer pale keeled, tapering into a subulate point ; 

 stigmas elongate, filiform, protruded at th apex of the flower. 



3 Y 



