D A H 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



DAL 



431 



but unproductive : its flourishing under the drip of trees 

 may be a recommendation ; but the head is so large, that in 

 heavy rains it is apt to be laid. It is rather early, flowering 

 from June to August ; and should always be cut while young 

 and tender, either for hay or fodder. 



3. Dactylis Ciliaris ; Hairy Cock's-foot Grass. Spike in a 

 head, turned to one side; calices three-flowered ; stem creep- 

 in:;. Hoot filiform, creeping, with long white fibres ; culms 

 a palm high, ascending, very simple, even, with one joint; 

 root-leaves involute, filiform, even, the length of the culm ; 

 stem-leaf one, even, the length of the head ; sheath somewhat 

 bellying; head terminating, ovate, with many sessile flowers; 

 ^lume of the calix, three-flowered, compressed, mucronate, 

 the length of the corolla, having scattered hairs on the back 

 under the tip. Native of the Cape. 



4. Dactylis Lagopoides. Spikes roundish, pubescent ; 

 culm prostrate, branched. Root perennial, fibrous ; culms a 

 palm high, several, covered on every side with the sheaths of 

 leaves ; leaves spreading, subulate, like spines, contracted 

 at the base narrower than their sheaths ; spike glomerate, 

 ovate, pubescent ; flowers sessile, many together, pointing 

 nearly one way ; calix eight-flowered, but often only four- 

 Howered, nearly equal. Native of the fields of Malabar. 



5. Dactylis Capitata. Spikes in a head, even ; culm pros- 

 trate, branched. Root perennial ; leaves even, three on the 

 culm, which is of the thickness of a fowl's quill, a foot and 

 half in height, and even ; panicle in form of a spike, as it 

 were conglomerate, narrower at top, a palm in length, the 

 colour of chaff ; flowers always twin, depressed ; calix nearly 

 the length of the flower, containing about five flowers. 

 Found by Sparrmann at the Cape. 



6. Dactylis Stricta ; Sea Cock's-foot Grass. Spikes termi- 

 nating, usually twin ; flowers remote, pressed close ; culms 

 and leaves strict. The calix contains one floret only, which 

 has but one style, and the style is longer than the stamina. 

 It is perennial, and flowers from July to September. Native 

 of the marshes in Essex, and very common on the sea-coast, 

 and also in Portugal. 



7- Dactylis Patens; Spreading Cock's-foot Grass. Spikes 

 scattered, turned one way, few ; flowers closely imbricate ; 

 culm, decumbent ; leaves spreading very much. This is a 

 perennial, flowering in August; and a native of North 

 America. 



Daffodil. See Narcissus. 



Daffodil, Sea. See Pancratium. 



Dahlia ; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Polygamia 

 Superllua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : common double; 

 the outer of several leaves, six or seven, ovato- spatulate, 

 rcflexed ; inner of one leaf, cup-shaped, in several ovate seg- 

 ments. Corolla . compound radiant ; florets of the centre 

 perfect, with a tubular, stalked, five-cleft petal ; those of the 

 radius fertile, with an ovate three-toothed petal, equal in 

 number to the segments of the calix. Stamina: in the per- 

 fect florets ; filamenta five, broadest at the base inserted into 

 the bottom of the petal ; anthera united into a tube. Pistil .- 

 germen somewhat spatulate, obscurely triangular, notched at 

 the top ; style thread-shaped ; stigmas somewhat spreading, 

 pubescent. Seeds: solitary, shaped like the germen. Recep- 

 tacle : flat, chaffy ; the scales large, the middle ones keeled, 

 the rest flat; down none. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 double, the outer of many leaves. Corolla : radiant, its rays 

 equal in number to the segments of the calix, ovate, three- 

 toothed. Receptacle : chaffy. Stigmas : downy. Seed- 

 down : none. 



There are several species of Dahlia, all natives of the 

 mountainous parts of the Spanish settlements of South Ame- 



rica : their flowers are large and handsome, like those of the 

 Sunflower, but the rays mostly red or purple, like the China 

 Aster, and likewise variable in this respect : the herbage is 

 coarse and rank, with compound leaves. Mr. Salisbury, who 

 has written a history of this genus, recommends the cultiva- 

 tion of some species in poor gravelly soil, in the open ground, 

 by which means they grow less luxuriantly, and flower 

 earlier and more copiously. 



* Dais ; a genus of the class Decandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC ICHARACTER. Calix : involucre four-leaved, 

 sessile, many flowered ; leaflets scariose, erect; perianth none. 

 Corolla: one-petalled, funnel-form, longer than the involucre; 

 tube filiform, rude ; border five cleft ; divisions lanceolate, 

 obtuse. Stamina : filamenta ten, inserted into the throat, 

 shorter than the border, the alternate ones shorter ; anthene 

 simple. Pistil : germen somewhat oblong, growing on the 

 base of the corolla ; style filiform, length of the tube; stigma 

 globose, ascending. Pericarp : berry ovate, one-celled. 

 Seed : single, ovate. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Involucre .- 

 four-leaved. Corolla : four or five-cleft. Berry one- 

 seeded. The species are, 



1. Dais Cotinifolia ; Colinus- leaved Dais. Flowers five- 

 cleft, ten-stamined. Leaves opposite, obovate, quite entire, 

 smooth, petioled; flowers in :i bunch, aggregate, terminating, 

 pubescent, with a gemmaceous four-valved involucre. The 

 fruit is a small nut, of an ovate acuminate form, with a thin 

 bark over it, and clothed with a permanent corolla; the epi- 

 dermis is membranaceous, pale, diaphanous, thickening on 

 each side into a prominent whitisli edge, easily separating ; 

 shell bony, thin, brittle, livid white on the outside, black 

 within, one-celled, and valveless. Native of the Cape. This 

 ornamental deciduous green-house shrub, has not yet seeded 

 in, England, as it does in Holland. The seeds should be sown 

 iu pots of light earth in the spring season, and plunged into 

 a good hot- bed : when they have attained a good growth, 

 they must be removed into a larger, and placed in the green- 

 house. It sometimes succeeds by layers and cuttings, if 

 made from young shoots. Tip difficulty of raising it, en- 

 hances its price among the nursery-men. 



2. Dais Octandria. Flowers four-cleft, eight-stamined. 

 Leaves opposite, elliptic oblong, acuminate, petioled, even ; 

 involucre one or two, terminating, peduncled, shorter than 

 the flowers, which are smooth ; stamina placed upon the tube, 

 and longer than the corolla. Native of the East Indies. 



3. Dais Disperma. Flowers eight and ten stamined. 

 Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, nerveless. Native of 

 Tongataboo . 



Daisy. See Sellis. 



Daisy, Great, or Oxeye. See Chrysanthemum. 



Daisy, Blue. See Globularia. 



Dalbergia ; a genus of the class Diadelphia, order Decan- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 bell-shaped, five-toothed ; teeth bluntish. Corolla : papilio- 

 naceous ; standard large, ascending, cordate-ovate, emargin- 

 ate, retuse, with a linear claw ; wingsoblong, straight, obtuse, 

 with a reversed tooth above ; keel scarcely shorter than the 

 wings, two-parted at the base, straight, obtuse. Stamina : 

 filamenta ten, united in two equal lateral bodies, free at top, 

 ascending ; anthcrie roundish. Pistil .- germen oblong, 

 compressed, pedicelled ; style subulate, ascending or reflex; 

 stigma simple. Pericarp : legume oblong, compressed, flat, 

 pedicelled, not gaping, one-celled. Seed : single, or few, 

 remote, kidney-form, compressed. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Filamenta two, four-cleft at top. Fruit : pedicelled, 

 not opening, leguminose, membranaceoua, compressed. 

 The species are, 



