D U R 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



D U R 



477 



nate, hard and stiff, of a dark green wrinkled surface on the 

 upper side, and hoary underneath, having woolly footstalks, 

 and a large halbert-shaped stipule to each, embracing the 

 stem : peduncles nuked, downy, scattered with purple hairy 

 glands, each bearing one flower, an inch in diameter, consist- 

 ing generally of eight petals, but sometimes of ten or six, sel- 

 dom of five; seeds oblong, gibbous on one side, straightishon 

 the other, somewhat villose, reddish, brown, narrowing at 

 bottom, ending at top in a feathered flexile tail, eight times 

 the length of the seed ; the corolla is frequently double. 

 Native of high mountains in Lapland, Denmark, Switzerland, 

 where it was observed by Ray, on Thuiri, one of the highest 

 points of mount Jura ; the Orisons, Savoy, Austria, Camilla, 

 Stiria, C'arinthia, Germany, France, Italy, Siberia, Ireland, 

 Scotland, and the north of England ; as, between Gort and 

 ( ialloway, where it was found by Mr. Heaton ; and near Sligo 

 in Ire land ; Breadalbiine, Isle of Skye ; Ross-shire, Suther- 

 land, and Argyleshire, in Scotland ; Arncliff Clowder, in 

 Kittendale, near Kilnsny ; and near Settle, in Yorkshire. It 

 flowers in June. No cattle will eat it. Dryas Pentapetala, 

 mentioned by Sibbald as growing in the den of Bethaick, 

 four miles from Perth, is not now to be found there : pos- 

 sibly the Potetttilla Argentea was mistaken for it. 



Driipis ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Tryginia. 

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

 bular, half rive-cleft, permanent. Corolla: petals five; claws 

 length of the calix, narrow ; border flat ; plates two-parted ; 

 divisions linear, obtuse ; throat crowned with the two tooth- 

 lets of each petal. Stamina : filament u five, length of the co- 

 re ilia ; antberse simple, oblong, incumbent. Pistil : germen 

 obovate, compressed ; styles three, simple, patulous ; stig- 

 mas simple. Pericarp .- capsule roundish, covered by the 

 oalix, one-celled, small, clipped round. Seed : single, kid- 

 ney-form, glossy. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix . five- 

 toothed. Petals: five. Capsule: clipped, round, one-seeded. 

 The species are, 



I . Drypis Spinosa. The first steps are procumbent, four- 

 cornered ^brachiate; the last dicbotomous,and flower-bearing. 

 Fresh green branches push forth in the spring, from the dry- 

 ones of the former year, the extreme ones are dichotomous, 

 and bear flowers; leaves subulate, somewhat three-cornered, 

 mucronate, those at the subdivisions of the stem are lanceo- 

 late with three teeth on each side ; peduncles shorter than 

 the flower ; calix erect ; corolla crowned, purple or white ; 

 petals narrow, spreading ; stamina erect : biennial. Native 

 of Barbary, Italy, Istria, &c. This plant in its adult state 

 becomes shrubby. Johnson and Gerarde call it Sperage 

 Thistle ; the Italians have named it erba ciuccia, br ass's 

 herb, because that animal feeds freely on it. 



Duck's Foot. See Podophyllum. 



Duck's Meat. See Lenma. 



Duranta ; a genus of the class Didynarnia, order Angio- 

 spermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: one-leafed, tubu- 

 lar, somewhat truncated, five-cleft. Corolla: one-petalled; 

 tube longer than the calix, somewhat curved ; border patu- 

 lous, five-parted, nearly equal, rounded. Stamina : filamenta 

 four, the two longer ones within the tube ; anthera: roundish. 

 Pistil: germen inferior, roundish ; style filiform, length of 

 the stamina ; stigma thickish. Pericarp . berry roundish, 

 covered by the calix. Seed : kernels four, two-celled. Es- 

 hEXTiAL CHARACTER. Calix : five-cleft, superior. Berry : 

 four-seeded. Seeds : two-celled. (According to Gaertner, 

 culix five-toothed ; corolla funnel-shaped, five-cleft ; berry 

 one-celled, containing four two-celled stones.) The plants 

 of this genus being natives of warm countries, require a 

 stove to preserve them in England ; they are propagated by 



VOL. i. 40. 



seeds, which should be sown in small pots, and plunged into 

 a hot-l>ed of tanner's bark ; and when the plants are fit 

 to remove, they must be planted each into a separate pot, 

 filled with light earth, and plunged into the hot -bed, observ- 

 ing to shade them until they have taken new root, and after- 

 wards treat them in the same manner as other plants from 

 the same country. They may also be increased by cuttings, 

 which put out roots very readily. They thrive best during 

 winter in a temperate heat. In summer, place them in a warm 

 sheltered situation in the open air. The species are, 



1. Duranta Plumieri ; Smooth Duranta. Fruiting calices 

 twisted. It grows fifteen feet high, with alternate branches, 

 erect or reclining ; spines awl-shaped, opposite, but very 

 frequently wanting ; leaves lanceolate, on short petioles, 

 acute, bluntly and unequally serrate above the middle, 

 smooth, opposite, two inches long ; racemes loose, wide, 

 reclining, both axillary and terminating ; flowers slightly 

 sweet-smelling, very many, blue, on very short peduncles ; 

 fruit yellow, the calix also then becoming yellow, and like a 

 berry, the whole being changed, and different from its former 

 shape. Native of South America and the West Indies. 



2. Duranta Ellisia. Fruiting calices erect. This shrub is 

 a fathom in height or more, branched and even ; branches 

 long, reclining, quadrangular, subdivided, with axillary, op- 

 posite, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, serrate, nerved leaves, 

 smooth on both sides ; racemes compound, terminating, bra- 

 chiate, many-flowered ; flowers on short peduncles, and blue. 

 The specific character of this and the preceding, taken from 

 the contortion of the calix above the fruit, is vague and insuf- 

 ficient, since the differences occur frequently in the same ra- 

 ceme ; they are therefore in allprobabilitynot specifically dis- 

 tinct. Jacquin also remarks, that it is extremely like the first 

 species, except that the fruiting calix is not twisted in the up- 

 per part, but continues convergent and erect. Notwithstand- 

 ingthis approximation, Dr. Patrick Browne made it a distinct 

 genus, under the name Ellisia, from Mr. Ellis, the ingenious 

 author of a treatise on Zoophites, or plant-like marine pro- 

 ductions of an animal nature : he says that this shrub rises 

 frequently to the height of six or seven feet ; that the leaves 

 are very like those of green tea ; and that the branches, 

 though sometimes beset with thorns, are often otherwise. 

 Native of the West Indies ; in Jamaica it is frequently found 

 in hedges between Kingston and San Jago de la Vega. 



3. Duranta Mutisii. Leaves elliptic, quite entire. This dif- 

 fers from the two preceding species merely in the leaves. 

 It is a native of South America, and was found there by 

 Mutis. 



Durio ; a genus of the class Polyadelphia, order Polyan- 

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

 pitcher-shaped, five-lobed ; lobes rounded, deciduous. Co- 

 rotta: petals five, added to the calix, and less than it, con- 

 cave. Stamina : filamenta in five bodies, divided into seven, 

 subulate, longer than the corolla; antherae twisted ; (or, ac- 

 cording to Jussieu, filamenta five, flat at the base, seven or 

 eight-cleft at the top ; the divisions connate, subulate, bear- 

 ing thirty-five to forty twisted antherae.) Pistil: germen 

 roundish, stipitate ; style bristle-form, length of the stamina. 

 Pericarp : pome roundish, on all parts muricated with many- 

 sided dagger-points, five-celled, gaping open in five direc- 

 tions: cells one to five seeded. Seeds: large, ovate, involved 

 in a mucous pulp, in a membranaceous aril. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix : five-cleft, pitcher-shaped, inferior. 

 Corolla: five-petalled, small. Style: one. Stamina : in five 

 bodies. Pome: five-celled. The only species is, 



1. Durio Zibethinus. A lofty tree, with alternate flowers 

 below the leaves ; the leaves resemble those of the Cherry, 



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