AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



279 



Rats continued. 



else a hiding-place, and it is often difficult to dislodge 

 them before much mischief has been done. They ascend 

 the Tine-rods, and eat off the bunches or berries whole- 

 sale, either carrying away or partially devouring them. 

 Sometimes, they enter at night by a front sash, or eren 

 from the roof, if the ventilators are left open, and an 

 attack has been once commenced. If Bats are about 

 the garden, the bottom sashes of vineries should always 

 be closed at night, especially after the Grapes are ripe. 

 A plan of prevention, which has been found partially, 

 though not wholly, successful, is tying some brown paper 

 round the rods, 2ft. or so clear above the ground, in 

 the shape of a belL This prevents the Bats ascend- 

 ing the rods, but, as already stated, their means of 

 ascent are not always confined to these. Bats are also 

 troublesome at times amongst wall fruit-trees outside, by 

 carrying away the fruit when ripening. Poison is the 

 most effective method of destruction, where it can safely 

 be laid down, but the animj>.lq often die in places where 

 the stench arising from decomposition proves, for a few 

 days, almost unbearable in the locality. 



The Brown or Norway Bat (Mue decumanus) is now 

 almost the only kind of true Bat found in Britain, since 

 the Black Bat (Mus rattus), formerly very abundant all 

 over the country, has disappeared before the Brown species, 

 probably devoured by the latter. Both are believed to 

 have entered Europe from Asia, and to have spread 

 westward the Black Bat having come into Europe 

 about the twelfth century of our era, and the other in 

 the sixteenth century. The Brown Bat was first observed 

 in England about 1730. It has spread all over the world 

 by the aid of shipping, and is now very widely natu- 

 ralised. The Black Bat is distinguished by its fur being 

 greyish-black above, and ashy beneath, and by the tail 

 being a little longer than the body. The Brown Bat is 

 a good deal larger than the Black, and has the fur 

 greyish-brown above, and yellowish-grey beneath ; and 

 the tail is a little shorter than the body. It requires 

 to have free access to water, and its habitats are a good 

 deal determined by this need. It is an excellent swimmer, 

 and takes readily to the water. 



Another so-called Bat is the Water Bat, or water vole 

 (Arvicola amphibia), which is about the size of a small 

 Brown Bat, but is clumsier in form, with a blunt head, 

 short ears, and small eyes; the toes of the hind feet are 

 connected at the base, and the tail is only about half as 

 long as the body. This am'rn-1 burrows in the banks 

 of streams, and passes most of its time in the water. 

 It is believed to feed almost exclusively on water 

 plants and roots ; hence, it is not often hurtful in 

 gardens. The Brown Bats may be destroyed, when ne- 

 cessary, by traps, or by means of the poisons recom- 

 mended for the destruction of Mice (which see) ; or 

 ferrets may be employed to drive them from their holes. 

 When they are very troublesome, the services of a rat- 

 catcher may be resorted to with advantage. 



RATTAN CANE. A common name for Calamut 

 Draco. 



RATTLE, RED. A common name for Pedicularis 

 sylvatica. 



RATTLE, YELLOW. See Rbinanthns Crista- 

 galli. 



RATJWOLPIA (named in honour of Leonhard 

 Bauwolf, physician at Augsburg, who travelled through 

 Palestine and other Eastern countries in 1753-5). In- 

 cluding Ophioxylon. OBD. Apocynacece. A genus com- 

 prising nearly forty species of stove, glabrous or rarely 

 pubescent trees or shrubs, natives of tropical America, 

 Africa, and Asia, and South Africa. Flowers and fruit 

 usually rather small; calyx short, five-fid or five-parted, 

 eglandulose ; corolla salver-shaped, with a cylindrical 



Ranwolfia continued. 



tube, a constricted throat, and five twisted lobes ; pe- 

 duncles alternating with the terminal leaves, few- 

 flowered, or di- or trichotomously branched ; cymelete 

 usually umbelliform. Drupes two, distinct or connate 

 in a two-stoned, bisulcate fruit. Leaves in whorls of 

 three or four, or rarely opposite. Some of the species 

 are rather pretty; the best-known are here described. 

 They thrive in a compost of loam, peat, and sand. 

 Cuttings, inserted in sand, under a glass, in heat, will 

 root readily. All are shrubs, except where otherwise 

 stated. 



R. densiflora (dense-flowered). JL white, many in a shortly- 

 pedunculate cyme ; corolla limb almost equalling the tube. Jane. 

 fr. one-seeded. L lanceolate, acuminate. 



East Indies, 1824. 

 dtntiflora.) 



!, approximating, some: 

 (B. R. 1275, under nan 



R. mains (larger). JL in terminal cymes ; corolla white, smaller 

 than in R. terpentina. ApriL jr. violet, resembling an olive in 

 shape. L shortly petiolate, elliptic-oblong, acute, paler beneath, 

 quatemately whorled, entire, h. 4ft Java, 1850. A robust 

 species. 



R. nitida (shining). JL in terminal, few-flowered cymes, shorter 

 than the leaves; corolla white. August fr. at first yellow, 

 becoming dark purple, sub-globose, bilobed. L quateraate, ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute at both ends, glabrous a * * 

 ones 4in. to 5in. long, liin. to liio. broad. 



Tree. 



labrous and shining, the larger 

 A. 10ft Spain, 1752. 



R. serpenttna (serpentine). JL in sub-umbellate corymbs ; corolla 

 white or pink, narrow, nearly iin. lone. May. fr. red, globose. 

 1. Sin. to 6in. long, IJin. to 2jin. broad, membranous, on petioles 

 Jin. to jin. long, h, scarcely more than 1ft. East Indies, 16SO. 



R. ternifolia (ternate-leaved). JL in axillary, few-flowered cymes ; 

 corolla white. May. fr. about the size of a pea. L te'rnate, 

 oblong, acuminate, acute at base, reticulate-veined, 1 jin. to 2in. 

 long, six to eight lines broad, on very short petioles. Branches 

 rarely waited. A. 3ft West Indies, 1823. (B. M. 2440.) 



RATJWOLPIA (of Buiz and Pavon). Included under 

 Ct t ha rery lu m. 



RAVENALA (said to be the native name of the plant 

 in Madagascar). STX. CYant'a. Including Phenakosper- 

 mum. OBD. Scitamineae. A genus comprising a couple 

 of species of noble, stove plants, one of which is a native 

 of North Brazil and Guiana, and the other indigenous in 

 Madagascar. Flowers many in a spathe, large, on very 

 short pedicels, shortly racemose ; sepals three, long, 

 narrow, acuminate : petals three, the outer one shorter 

 and slightly complicate, the lateral ones long, similar to 

 the sepals, but smaller; stamens five, slightly shorter 

 than the petals ; scapes or peduncles in the upper axils ; 

 bracts spathaceous, many, boat-shaped, acuminate, bi- 

 fariously spreading. Leaves very large, clustered, flabel- 

 lately bifarious ; petioles long and concave at base, scarcely 

 sheathed. Stem sometimes short, with sub-radical leaves, 

 sometimes erect and woody (as high as 30ft.), built up 

 of the sheaths of the leaf-stalks, the other parts of the 

 leaves having fallen off. R. madagascariensis is called 

 by the French the Traveller's Tree, probably on account 

 of the water which is stored up in the large, cup-like 

 sheaths of the leafstalks; its seeds are edible. For 

 culture, see Mnsa. 



P. gnianensia (GuianaX JL white ; spathes seven, boat-shaped, 

 deflexed, 1ft to l.-.ft long; scape tall. L distichous, oval- 

 elongated, as long as the petioles. A. 15ft Brazil and Guiana, 

 1848. 



P. madagascariensi* (Madagascar). /. white, clustered in 

 alternate, boat-shaped spathes, 7m. long ; thyrse axillary, lift 

 long. L flabellately disposed, long-stalked, sheathed at base, 

 alternate. Caudex tall, arboreous. Madagascar See Fig. 358, 

 page 280. (F. d. S. 1355 ; L H. 1860, 234.) Sr*. Urania ipedota. 



RAVENEA (named in honour of Louis Bavene, a 

 zealous promoter of horticulture at Berlin). OBD. Palnue. 

 A monotypic genus; The species is a slender, stove palm, 

 nearly allied to Hyophorbe. For culture, see Areca. 

 R. HUdebrandtii (Hildebrandf sX fi. greenish- white, dio3cions, 

 on a simply-branched, stalked, fleshy sp&dix ; calyx cup-shaped, 

 three-lobed; petals three, oblong- lanceolate. L long-stalked; 

 leaflets lanceokte, very acute, smooth, light green jrachis cylin- 

 8) 10ft Comoro Islands, 1878. A grace- 



drical. A. ( 

 ful, ornam 

 6776 ; L H. 



ful, ornamental palm, in habit like some Chamedoreas. 

 iviillM.) 



