AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



337 



Rustic Work continued. 



windows (and if commanding a view of some fine scenery, 

 so much the better), the Rustic arbour or summer-house 

 may be placed, having its seat and table. If backed by 

 shrubs, it will have a more snug appearance, and if 

 flanked or extended at the base by partially plunging a 

 few rough logs in the ground, interspersing them with 

 hardy, evergreen Ferns and spring flowers, the charm 

 of the picture would be enhanced. Should a boundary 

 fence anywhere cross the view, as in the division of 

 the lawn from the park or paddock, it may be some- 

 what masked by placing a line of Eristic arches 

 across, and allowing the climbing plants upon them 

 to assume a somewhat careless growth. For such 

 a purpose, good, sound Larch poles are useful, as they 

 will stand for several years. 



In places where there is a large expanse of lawn, with 

 glades of turf and spreading trees, and masses of 

 shrubbery, Rustic beds, formed like baskets, vases, and 

 pyramids, are pretty objects, if placed with judg- 

 ment, and are very effective if associated with Ivy or 

 Ferns. 



Rustic buildings, when substantially constructed, are 

 very appropriate, and, as a rule, harmonise better with 

 the scenery than any of a more formal character, when 

 used as boat-houses, rests and shelters in woods, game- 

 keepers' huts, &c. Rustic Work is also well adapted 

 to foot-bridges over small streams in gardens, parks, and 

 woods. It is better, in order to make such structures 

 more secure, to have a pair of iron girders concealed 

 beneath the woodwork. The planks for the pathway 

 should be of some durable wood without sap; otherwise, 

 they may soon rot, and cause accidents. 



Any pits or hollows that occur in shrubberies or 

 plantations, if overhung by shrubs or large trees, will 

 often present a suitable site for a fernery; and where 

 natural stone does not abound for making rockwork, 

 an excellent effect may be obtained by the use of 

 sufficiently massive logs. Any steps that may be required 

 can be made from split sections of good-sized trees, 

 placing them so that the split side forms the tread, and the 

 bark side the riser. The " tods " of old Pollard-trees, and 

 even sections of hollow trunks, when placed in suitable 

 positions in woodland walks or drives, make good re- 

 ceptacles for trailing plants, or the better kinds of hardy 

 Ferns. In such walks, and also in parks, sections of rough 

 timber (provided the top is smoothed and very slightly 

 bevelled, so as to throw off the rain), when placed in twos 

 and threes at the base of spreading trees, form agreeable 

 resting-places. Care must be taken to have them of 

 variable sizes, so as to avoid formality. 



The Rustic chair, as a rule more picturesque than 

 useful, should be sparingly used, or at least only where 

 apparently needed, and not too near the mansion, or in 

 highly-dressed grounds. 



RUTA (Rute was the old Greek name, probably from 

 ruomai, to preserve; in allusion to the effects of the 

 plant on health). Herb of Grace ; Rue. Including Hap- 

 lopTvyllum (or Aplophyllum). OKD. Rutacece. A genue 

 comprising about forty species of hardy or half-hardy, 

 strong-smelling, gland-dotted, perennial herbs or sub- 

 shrubs, broadly scattered over the Mediterranean region 

 and Western and Central Asia. Flowers yellow OK 

 greenish, sometimes cymose; calyx short, four or five- 

 lobed or parted, persistent; petals four or five, imbri- 

 cated, often toothed or ciliated; torus thick; stamens 

 eight to ten ; corymbs or panicles terminal, many-flowered, 

 leafy-bracted. Leaves alternate, simple, trifoliolate, pin- 

 natisect or decompound. Few of the species are of any 

 horticultural value; all that call for mention are de- 

 scribed below, and are hardy sub-shrubs, except where 

 otherwise indicated. They are of easy culture in any 

 light, rich soiL Propagated by seeds, or by cuttings. 

 For culture, Ac., of R. graveolens, see Rue. 



VoLIIL 



Rnta continued. 



B.^Wora (white-flowered). A white; petals entire, shorter 

 than the stamens; branches of panicle bracteate. July to 

 September. 1. supra-decompound ; leaflets obovate, glaucous 

 pubescent, somewhat auricled, the terminal one large obcordate' 

 h. 2ft. NepauL An elegant, half-hardy sub-shrub, clothed with 

 glandular pubescence. (H. E. F.79.) Batnninghausenia aUnflora 

 is the correct name of this plant. 



R. angusttfolia (narrow-leaved). A synonym of R. Chalepensit. 



R. bracteosa (bracteate). fl., petals ciliated. June to September 

 1. pinnate ; leaflets oblong, on short stalks ; the terminal one 

 largest, the lower ones cut into three to live leaflets, h. 3ft. 

 South Europe, &c., 1772. Sr>\ R. maerophyUa. 



R. chalepensis (Aleppo), fl., petals ciliated; bracts small, 

 ovate. June to September. 1. supra-decompound, four times 

 longer than broad; leaflets oblong-cuneate, almost equal, very 

 glaucous, h. 2ft. Mediterranean region, 1722. STN. R. anqugti- 

 folia (B. M. 2311). 



R. graveolens (strong-scented). Common Rue ; Countryman's 

 Treacle ; Herb of Grace. JL, the first one opening having usually 

 ten stamens, the rest only eight; petals entire, or a little 

 toothed. June to September. I. supra-decompound ; leaflets 

 oblong, the terminal one obovate. A. 3ft. South Europe, 1562. 

 variegata is a useful garden form, having foliage spotted with 

 white. 



R. macrophylla (large-leaved). A synonym of R. bracteosa. 



R. patavina (Paduan). fl. yellow, with a green central rib, in a 

 dense corymb; petals glabrous, oblong, obtuse, attenuated at 

 base ; pedicels slender, scarcely as long as the flowers. June 

 and July. I. glabrous ; lower ones attenuated at base, oblong- 

 spathulate ; the rest trisected, with oblong or linear segments. 

 Stem dwarf, simple, densely leafy. Orient, 1819. 



R. suaveolens (sweet-smelling), fl. yellow, corymbose, having 

 the smell of those of Primula ojficinali* ; calyx a little fringed ; 

 petals obovate. June to September. I entire, spathulately lanceo- 

 late, glaucous, smootnish. A. 2ft. Tanria, 1800. (B. M. 2254, 

 under name of R. linifolia grandiflora.) 



RUTACE2B. A natural order of gland-dotted shrubs 

 or trees, very rarely herbs, scattered over the temperate 

 and warmer regions of the globe, occurring most copiously 

 in South Africa and Australia. Flowers usually herm- 

 aphrodite ; sepals four or five, imbricated, free or connate ; 

 petals four or five, hypogynous or perigynous, broadly 

 imbricated, rarely valvate; stamens inserted at the base 

 or on the margins of the torus, four or five, or eight or 

 ten, very rarely fewer or indefinite; style short or elon- 

 gated, distinct or connate; inflorescence variable, very 

 rarely spicate or umbellate, in most cases cymose and 

 axillary. Fruit a capsule or berry, rarely a drupe. 

 Leaves exstipulate, usually opposite, simple or often 

 compound, one, three, or five-foliolate or pinnate, fre- 

 quently entire, occasionally serrulated ; petioles sometimes 

 biglandular at base. Ruta graveolens (Rue), grown in 

 most gardens, is remarkable for its strong smell and 

 acrid taste. Citrus is the most celebrated genus, on 

 account of its fruits (Orange, Lemon, Lime, Ac.); a 

 volatile oil, obtained by distillation of the flowers and 

 epicarp, and dissolved in alcohol, produces the well- 

 known Eau de Cologne. The berries of some other 

 genera from China and Japan are edible, as Xgle 

 Marmelos, Cookia punctata, Glycosmis citrifolia, Tri- 

 phasia trifoliata, Ac. The order comprises about eighty- 

 three genera and 650 species. Examples : Citrus, Correa, 

 Crotceo, Ruta. 



RTJTIIiANS. Deep red, with a metallic lustre. 



RTTYSCHIA (named in honour of Fred. Ruysch, Pro- 

 fessor of Botany at Amsterdam ; he died in 1731). STN. 

 Souroubea. OBD. Ternsiromiacece. A genus comprising 

 about eight species of stove, epiphytal or climbing shrubs, 

 rarely arborescent, natives of tropical America. Flowers 

 in terminal, often elongated racemes, supported by sessile, 

 trilobed bracts at the tips of the pedicels; sepals five, 

 closely imbricated; petals five, imbricated, connate at 

 base; stamens five; bracteoles two, sepaloid. Leaves 

 entire, coriaceous. R clusia folia, the only species intro- 

 duced, is an interesting under-shrub. It will thrive in 

 a compost of vegetable mould and loam. Ripened cut- 

 tings will root freely if inserted in sand, under a bell 

 glass, in heat 



2 x 



