639 



RIBGRASS. 



RINGS, FAIRY 



610 



plant is very characteristic. The Black Currant has the same geo- 

 graphical range as the Red Currant, but is found more abundantly in 

 the north than in the south of Europe. It is now common in Great 

 Britain, but is probably not indigenous. It is found in Siberia, on the 

 Caucasus, and in Sweden. It is indigenous in the woods of Russia as 

 far as St. Petersburg, and in this district the fruit is found green, 

 yellow, or even white. Species of Ribes are also found in India and 

 South America with black fruit. There are three wild varieties 

 R. bacca flaxida, with a dingy greenish-yellow fruit, supposed to 

 be a hybrid between black and white currant ; R. bacca virida, 

 with green fruit ; and R. foliis variegatit, with leaves streaked with 

 yellow. 



It. tanguineum, the Bloody or Red-Flowered Currant. Leaves cor- 

 date, serrated, villous beneath ; racemes drooping, twice the length 

 of the leaves ; calyx with spreading segments. This is the most 

 ornamental species of the genus, bearing large racemes of deep 

 rose-coloured flowers, which are followed by berries of a bluish-black. 

 It is a native of the north-west coast of America. 



R. atroput-pureum, the Dark Purple-Flowered Currant, is a native of 

 the Altai and mountainous districts on the river Ural. 



*** Symphocalyx. 



The species of this section are cultivated entirely as ornamental 

 shrubs. Of these, X. aureum, the Golden-Flowered Currant, is best 

 known. It ia a native of America. Of this plant there are three 

 varieties R. proecox, R, villosam, and R. serotinum. They are all 

 beautiful shrubs, and deserve a place in every collection. 

 RIBGRASS. [PLANTAGINACE.E.] 



RIBWORT PLANTAIN, the common name of the Plantago 

 lanceolata. [PLANTAGO.] 



RICCIACE^E, Cryital-Wortt, a natural order of moss-like Plants 

 or Herbs, inhabiting mud or water, swimming or floating, usually 

 annual ; their leaves and stems blended into a frond of a cellular 

 structure, creeping, green or purple underneath, with a distinct 

 epidermis, and a cavity of air-passages beneath it in some species. 



These plants form a plain transition from Thallogemi to Acrogens. 

 Their spores are collected in large numbers within organs resembling 

 the pistils of Pbsenogamous Plants. They have a distinct axis of 

 growth, and an epidermis is distinctly formed with stomates for 

 breathing with. The genua Duriasa is regarded as forming the 

 nearest transition to Liverworts. It fructifies under water, which 

 is very seldom the case with the other Crystal-Worts. 



Of the species hitherto known two-thirds have been observed in 

 Europe, and the remainder in various parts of the world. Several 

 species in North America, the Cape of Good Hope, and Brazil, appear 

 to be very similar to those of Europe. There are 8 genera and 

 29 species. 



(Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom.) 

 RICE. [ORTZA.] 



RICE-BIRD, one of the names of the Paddy Bird, Paddee Bird, or 

 Java Sparrow. It is the Loxia oryzicora of Linnxus. 



This well-known bird, whose plumage is well described by Buffon 

 as being so well arranged that no one feather passes another, whilst all 

 appear covered with that kind of bloom which is visible on plums, 

 giving them a beautiful tint, has the bill very much developed ; indeed, 

 with the exception of Pyrenestes and perhaps Coccothrauttei, this finch 

 is the most remarkable of the race for the size and power of that 

 organ. 



The colour of this bird is bloomy lead-coloured ; head and tail 

 black; bill red; belly obscurely rosy; cheeks in the male snowy; 

 legs flesh coloured. 



In Java, where it is called Glate, and the other parts of Asia where 

 it is found, it has a very bad reputation on account of the ravages 

 which it commits in the rice-fields with its powerful and sharp bill. 

 In Sumatra the name of the bird is Boorong Peepee. It is often 

 brought alive to this country, and confined in aviaries for the sake of 

 its elegant shape and graceful colouring : its song, which is short and 

 monotonous, does not much recommend it This species must not 

 be confounded with the Rice-Bird of America, Emberiza oryzivora, 

 Linn. [BoB-o-LiXK.] (See figures in next column.) 



RICHA'RDIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Araceie, of which only one species is known, the S. jEthiopica. It 

 was introduced into this country from the Cape, under the name ol 

 Calla Ethiopian, in 1731. It is also found wild at St. Helena. It is 

 one of the most beautiful of Aroideous plants. Its large spathe is 

 pure white, surrounding a spadix which is coloured deeply yellow by 

 its antheriferoua flowers. Richardia, is a hardy plant, bearing well 

 our mildeat winters, and growing in great vigour and beauty in, the 

 ordinary apartments of a house. It may be made to blossom all the 

 year round. 



RICHARDSO'NIA.a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Cmchanacca*, named by Houston in honour of Richardson, an English 

 botanist of the sixteenth century. This genus was called Richardia 

 by Linnoma, but that name has been given to another plant. Most ol 

 the species of Richardionia are natives of South America. They 

 possess emetic properties, and under the name of White Ipecacuanha 

 Ac., are used extensively as a substitute for the true Ipecacuanha 

 (Cejihalii Ipecacuanha). 



HAT. BIST. DIV. VOL. IV. 



Rice-Bird (Loxia oryzivora, Linn , Fringilla oryzivora of Swuinson and 

 authors). Upper figure, female ; lower figure, male. (Swainson.) 



RICINULA. [ENTOMOSTOMATA.] 



RI'CINUS, an apetalous genus of Plants belonging to the natural 

 order Euphorbiacece. This word is derived from ' ricinus,' the Latin 

 name for a species of insect which the fruit of this plant was supposed 

 to resemble. (Pliny, ' Nat. Hist.,' xv. 7.) The common name of 

 Ricinui is Palma Christi, a name applied to these plants by Brunfels, 

 Matthiolus, and other older botanists, on account of the form of its 

 elegant lobate leaves. It was originally a native of Asia, but is now 

 naturalised in Africa, America, and the south of Europe. The cha- 

 racters of this genus are : Flowers monoecious ; calyx 3-5-parted, 

 valvate ; no petals ; filaments numerous, polyadelphous ; style short ; 

 stigmas 3, bipartite, feathery ; ovary globose, 3-celled, with an ovule 

 in each cell ; fruit capsular, tricoccous ; leaves alternate, stipulate, 

 paK.i,ite, glands at apex of petiole ; flowers in terminal panicles; trees, 

 shrubs, or herbs, becoming arborescent. 



R. communis, Common Palma Christi, is best known as producing 

 castor-oil. It has peltate palmate leaves, with lanceolated serrated 

 lobes ; an herbaceous glaucous stem, of a purplish red-colour upwards, 

 and flowers in long green and glaucous spikes springing from the 

 divisions of the branches, the males from the lower part of the spike, 

 the females from the upper ; the capsules are prickly. It varies in 

 size ; in Britain it is seen seldom more than three or four feet in 

 height, but in India it is a tree ; and Clusius mentions it as measuring 

 from two to four feet round its stem in Spain. Lindley refers several 

 species distinguished by Willdeuow to this form, namely, R. viridis, 

 R. Afi-icanui, R. lividus, and R. inermis. (' Flora Medica.') 



R. communis will grow freely in this country, and when sown in pots 

 or hot-beds early in the season, and transplanted In spring, it forms 

 a very handsome border annual. 



RIET-BOC. [ANTJLOPE*.] 



RIGGLE. [AMMODYTES.] 



RING-BIRD. [EMBERIZID.E.] 



RING-DOVE. [COLUMBIM.] 



RING-THRUSH. [MEHULID*.] 



RING-TAIL. [FALCONID.E.] 



RING-TAILED EAGLK. [FALCOum*] 



RINGENT, a fonn of the corolla of plants. [FLOWER.] 



RINGS, FAIRY, is a name given to certain spots which are observed 

 amongst grass in fields, and which are characterised by being more 



2 R 



