AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



453 



Niphaea continued. 

 N. albo-llneata (white-lined). 

 lineata. 



A synonym of Phincea albo- 



N. oblonga (oblong).* fl. white, axillary and terminal, drooping. 



Winter. 1. oblong-cordate, toothed, rugose, h. 1ft. Guatemala, 



1841. (B. R. 1842, 5.) 

 N. rubida (reddish). A synonym of Phincea rubida. 



NIFHOBOIiUS. Included under Folypodium (which 

 see). 



NIPHOPSIS. Included under Polypodiuni (which 

 see). 



NISSOLIA (named after William Nissole, French 

 botanist, Professor at MontpeUier, born 1647, died 1735). 

 ORD. Leguminosce. A small genus (only two species) of 

 stove suffruticose herbs, of twining habit, indigenous to 

 tropical America. Flowers yellow, in axillary racemes, 

 or thyrsoid at the tips of the branches. Pods linear. 

 Leaves impari-pinnate ; leaflets few, exstipellate ; stipules 

 setaceous. Nissolias thrive in a peat and loam com- 

 post. Propagated by cuttings of short, stubby, half- 

 ripened shoots, in spring or summer. Probably none of 

 the species are now in cultivation. 



NITIDUS. Having an even, smooth, polished sur- 

 face, as instanced in many seeds. 



NITTA-TREE. See Farkia africana. 



NIVENIA (named in honour of James Niven, a 

 botanical collector, especially of African plants). STN. 

 Paranomus. OBD. Proteacece. A genus comprising a 

 dozen species of large greenhouse, evergreen, erect, leafy 

 shrubs, natives of South Africa. Flowers in terminal 

 or axillary spikes ; florets in fours, within a persistent, 

 hairy involucre of four leaves. Leaves simple or much 

 divided, with filiform, sharp-pointed segments. The 

 species require treatment similar to Frotea (which 

 see). The two species here described are probably the 

 only ones yet introduced. 



N. crithmifolia (Crithmum-leaved). fl. purple; spikes sub- 

 sessile, cylindrical, dense. July. I. bi- or tri-ternate, slender, 



almost filiform, lin. to lin. long, 

 under name of Protea Lagopus.) 



h '4ft 1810. (A. B. R. 243,' 



N. media (middle), fl. purple ; spikes ovate-oblong, terminal, 

 solitary or sub-umbellate. July. I. sub-triternate, glabrous, 

 2in. long. h. 24ft 1786. (A. B. B. 254, under name of Protea 

 npicata.) 



NIVEUS. Snow-white; the purest white. 



NOCCA. A synonym of Lagascea. 



NOCC2EA. A synonym of Lagascea (which see). 



NOCTUA (Night Moths). A name applied with a 

 considerable diversity of comprehensiveness in respect 

 to the number of insects included under it, though, 

 even in the widest acceptance, the species are all 

 heavy in body, with somewhat narrow front wings, dull 

 coloured, but variegated with spots and cross bands. 

 Used originally to denote any member of the great 

 group now called Noctuina, it became restricted to the 

 family Noctuidce, and finally to the genus Noctua. A 

 brief account of the family Noctuidce is here given. The 

 distinctive characters are not easily put into words, 

 yet the general aspect is somewhat easily recognised in 

 the family. The front wings are narrow and laid 

 flat, and so overlap as to render the whole insect 

 narrow when at rest. In most of the species, the 

 spread of wings averages about lin., varying from lin. 

 to 2iin. The larvae are usually cylindrical, thick, and 

 smooth, and hide during the day either below ground 

 or in and below the plants on which they feed at night : 

 they are usually dull in colour of markings (see Fig. 

 695). The pupae are protected in earthen cocoons 

 underground. The family includes four British genera, 

 viz. : Rusina with one species, which has the fore wings 

 brown, with three dark cross lines, and the hind wings 

 dark grey, with darker fringes; Triphcena (the Yellow 

 Under- wings), from liin. to 2jin. in spread of wing, easily 



Noctua continued. 



known by the hind wings being yellow or orange, with 

 a black band along the rear margin; Agrotis (the Dart 

 Moths), and Noctua, both of which latter have grey hind 

 wings, and vary from lin. to 2in. in spread of wings ; the 

 chief differences between them resting in the narrower 

 fore wings, and, in Agrotis, different arrangements in 

 markings of the fore wings. Agrotis numbers twenty- 

 three British species, Noctua twenty, and Triphcena six. 

 The larvae of almost all these genera devour herbaceous 

 plants or Willows; and many of them can thrive on a 

 large variety of plants. Some attack the roots, others 

 the leaves and the young stems, of many of our culti- 

 vated potherbs; and a considerable proportion may be 

 included among the most hurtful of garden pests. In- 

 deed, this family probably contains the Moths most 

 hostile to gardeners. Noctua is, perhaps, the least in- 

 jurious of the three genera, since few of the larvae in 

 it are in the habit of feeding largely on garden produce. 

 Triphcena, though with fewer species, is probably more 



FIG. 695. CATERPILLARS OF TURNIP MOTII (AGROTIS SEGETUH). 



destructive ; but pre-eminent in this respect is Agrotis. 

 In this genus, many of the species live habitually on 

 Turnip roots (see Turnip Moth.), on Cabbages, and on 

 almost all other vegetables grown for food. The most 

 injurious kinds may be specified as the Turnip Moth 

 (A. segetum), the Heart and Dart (A. exclamationis) 

 like the last, very destructive to Turnip roots in winter, 

 though omnivorous when pressed by hunger the Garden 

 Dart (A. nigricans), and the White-line Dart (A. Tritici) ; 

 though several of the remaining species are also harmful 

 at times. To attempt to describe the above species in- 

 dividually, would far exceed the space available here. 



Amongst the best methods for getting rid of the cater- 

 pillars are to lay soot or gas-lime around the stems of the 

 plants, so as to prevent access to them; or to manure 

 with guano, and earth-up the plants, to stimulate re- 

 pair of injuries caused by the insects. If only a few 

 choice plants are attacked, it is advisable to remove the 

 I soil from the upper part of the root, and to pick out 



