272 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Rampion continued. 



is raised from seeds, which are very minute, and should 

 be sown in very shallow drills, 6in. apart, not earlier 

 than about the end of May, lest the plants run to seed 

 before winter. Eampion is not extensively cultivated. 

 It prefers a rather shady situation, and rich, light soil. 

 The seeds should only be covered very slightly. Fre- 

 quent waterings are necessary until the plants are 

 established. When they are large enough to handle, 

 thin out to 4in. apart. The roots, which are fleshy and 

 white, will be fit for use from November through winter ; 

 they require scraping before being eaten. See Fig. 350. 



RAMPION, HORNED. See Phyteuma. 



RAM'S TOOT. An old name for Ranunculus aqua- 

 tilus. 



RAM'S HEAD. A common name for Cypripedium 

 arietinum. 



RAM'S HORNS. A common name for Orchis 

 mascula. 



RAMSONS. See Allium ursinum. 



RAMULARIA. A group of Fungi, parasitic on 

 various parts of living plants. The species are numerous ; 

 but almost all of them cause brown or pale spots on 

 the leaves or other green organs, and their effect is 

 thus conspicuous, though very seldom so hurtful as to 

 cause serious injury to the plants. The mycelium is 

 inside the host-plant; and from it, at each stoma, are 

 pushed out several erect branches (conidiophores), which, 

 at the tip, or near it, bear conidia, or spores. These 

 are nearly cylindrical, but taper at both ends, and are 

 divided by two or more cross-walls into several cells. 

 It is probable that the Fungi grouped under Ramularia 

 belong to the reproduction of Pyreisomycetes (which 

 see). To enumerate the species that affect cultivated 

 plants is unnecessary, since probably few flowering plants 

 are quite free from the attacks of some Fungus of the 

 group to which Ramularia belongs. No known remedy is 

 so effectual as burning the more diseased plants or 

 leaves. Fortunately, these Fungi seldom commit very 

 serious depredations on cultivated plants. 



RAMUIiOSE. Bearing many branchlets or twigs. 



RANARIA. A synonym of Herpestis. 



RANCAGUA. A synonym of Lasthenia (which see). 



RANDALIA. A synonym of Eriocaulon. 



RANDIA (named in honour of Isaac Eand, formerly 

 Prasfectus of the Botanic Garden of the Society of 

 Apothecaries at Chelsea). SYNS. Cupia, Oxyceros, Stylo- 

 coryne. OED. Rubiacece. A genus comprising about 

 ninety species of erect or climbing, unarmed or spiny, 

 stove, evergreen trees or shrubs, allied to Gardenia, 

 inhabiting tropical regions, mostly in Asia and Africa. 

 Flowers white or yellow, rarely pink, small or large, 

 solitary, corymbose or fascicled, axillary, very rarely 

 terminal ; calyx tube ovoid, obovoid, or tnrbinate, 

 the limb usually tubular, rarely toothed or lobed ; 

 corolla funnel-shaped, campanulate, or hypocrateri- 

 form, with a short or elongated tube, a glabrous 

 or villous throat, and a limb of five (rarely more) acute 

 or obtuse, twisted lobes; stamens five. Leaves obovate, 

 oblong, or lanceolate, usually coriaceous. A selection of 

 the introduced species is here given; they are shrubs, 

 except where otherwise indicated. For culture, see 

 Gardenia. 



B. aculeata (prickly). Indigo Berry. /. white, axillary, sessile, 

 solitary, hypocrateriform ; corolla tube twice as long as the 

 calyx teeth. July. Jr. the size of a small cherry. I. obo- 

 vate, highly glabrous, sub-sessile, cuneate at base. Branchlets 

 glabrous : spines rigid, opposite the axils, spreading, h. 12ft. 

 West Indies, 1733. SYN. Gardenia Randia (B: M. 1841). 



B. dumetorum (bushy). /. white, at length yellow ; calyx 

 tube louder tliau the lanceolate corolla lobes ; corolla silky oiit- 



Randia continued. 



side. July. fr. large, ovate-cordate, shining. I. opposite or 

 fasciculate, obovate-cuneate, smooth, ft. 5ft. Kast Indies, 1825. 

 A much-branched shrub or small tree, with axillary, rigid spines. 

 SYN. R. floribunda. 



B. fasciculata (fascicled). /. white, sweet-scented, at length 

 yellowish ; fascicles sub-sessile. July. I. ovate-oblong, sub- 

 sessile, smooth, h. 4ft. East Indies, 1824. A much-branched 

 shrub, with axillary, spreading spinet). 



B. floribunda (bundle-flow.ered). A synonym of R. dumetorum. 



B. horrida (horrid). /. white, in trichotomous, sub-terminal 

 racemes. May. fr. black. I. ovate-lanceolate, glabrous. 

 Branches reclinate ; branchlets decussate ; spines large, opposite, 

 horn-like, h. 5ft. Cochin China, 1825. 



rantha (large-flowered).* fl. pale yellow, axillary or ter- 

 minal on the ultimate branchlets, solitary ; calyx lobes somewhat 

 leaf -like; corolla tube very long. June. 1. obovate-oblong, 

 acuminate, shortly petiolate, membranous, obsoletely pubes- 

 cent beneath and on the veins, h. 9ft. to 30ft. Brazil, 1815. 

 Unarmed climbing shrub or small tree. (B. M. 3809, under 

 name of R. Bowieana ; B. R. 1846, 63, under name of Gardenia 

 Devoniana.) 



B. maculata (spotted).* /. white; corolla almost glabrous or 

 scarcely puberulous, with a very long tube. April. I. sub- 

 coriaceous, shining, highly glabrous, oblong, very shortly petio- 

 late. Sierra Leone, 1843. A small, unarmed, highly glabrous 

 tree. (B. M. 4185, under name of Gardenia Stanteyana.) 



B. malleifera (hammer-bearing). /. white, solitary, terminal, 

 tomentose ; corolla tube cylindrical, club-shaped, expanded into 

 a broad, funnel-shaped limb. July. I. ternate, obovate, cuspi- 

 date, cuneate at base, shortly petiolate, highly glabrous, k. 4ft. 

 to 6ft. Sierra Leone, 1843. SYNS. Gardenia malleifera (B. M. 

 4307), G. Whitefieldii. 



B. rotundifolia (round-leaved), fl. white, solitary, sessile; 

 corolla twice as long as the calyx. July. fr. yellowish. I. sub- 

 rotundate or ovate, pubescent on both sides, wrinkled. Branches 

 and spines sub-verticillate. h. 6ft. Peru, 1820. 



RANUNCULACE.2E. A natural order of herbs, 

 rarely shrubs or woody climbers, dispersed over nearly 

 the whole of the globe. Flowers regular or rarely 

 irregular, hermaphrodite or by abortion dioecious ; in- 

 florescence usually terminal, racemose or paniculate ; 

 sepals three to many, usually five, hypogynous, free, 

 commonly petaloid and deciduous, imbricated or valvate ; 

 petals as many as the sepals, or numerous, sometimes 

 flat and conspicuous, sometimes small, deformed, or even 

 absent, imbricated ; stamens usually numerous and many- 

 seriate, hypogynous, free; anther connectives continuous 

 with the filaments ; carpels many or rarely solitary, free 

 or rarely sub-connate. Fruit of pointed or feathery 

 achenes, or of follicles, which are rarely united into a 

 capsule. Leaves radical or alternate (in Clematidece 

 opposite) entire or palmately or sub-pinnately dissected ; 

 petioles often dilated, amplexicaul or rarely furnished 

 with stipuliform appendages. Most of the Ranunculacece 

 possess acrid, and more or less poisonous, but never- 

 theless volatile, properties. The juice of the leaves of 

 Clematis Vitalba is employed by beggars for producing 

 artificial sores. Several species of Helleborus possess 

 purgative and poisonous properties. The narcotic and 

 poisonous characters of the Aconites are well-known. The 

 order comprises thirty genera, and upwards of 1200 

 species have been described, many of which are highly 

 ornamental garden plants. Examples : Aconitum, Anemone, 

 Clematis, Delphinium, Pceonia, and Ranunculus. 



RANUNCULUS (a Latin name for a little frog ; 

 applied by Pliny to these plants, the aquatic species 

 growing where frogs abound). Buttercup; Crowfoot. 

 Including Ceratocephalus and Ficaria. OBD. Ranun- 

 culacece. A large genus (about 160 species) of mostly 

 hardy annual herbs (or at length often having peren- 

 nial stems), dispersed over the whole globe, but most 

 copious in temperate and frigid regions, particularly in 

 the Northern hemisphere; within the tropics, a few only 

 are found, and these on the tops of mountains. Flowers 

 white, yellow, or red, terminal, solitary or paniculate, 

 rarely sessile in the axils of the branchlets ; sepals three 

 to five, caducous ; petals equal in number, or more 

 (sometimes as many as fifteen), with a nectar-bearing 

 scale at the base, conspicuous or rarely minute ; stamens 



