662 



H E D 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



H ED 



convex and very smooth, the other wrinkled and unequal; 

 kernels the shape of the nuts. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER, 

 Calix: four-toothed. Corolla: four-cleft. Style : none. Cap- 

 sule : tricoccous. Seed: a nut. The only species is, 



1 . Hedwigia Balsamifera. Leaves oval, ending in a length- 

 pned point at top, without any indentations, thin, shining, 

 waved, yellowish-green, five or six inches long, and three 

 inches wide, ranged in pairs along a midrib, terminated by 

 an odd one. The flowers grow in a raceme at the extremities 

 of the branchlets, and are white. The fruit is the size of a 

 small nut, divided in two or three parts, covered with a green 

 coriaceous rind, and containing a white fleshy sweet pulp, 

 having an aromatic smell : each division has in it a flatted 

 woody shell, enclosing a bitter oily kernel. This is a lofty 

 tree, growing to the height of more than sixty feet, with a 

 trunk four 'or five feet in circumference ; outer bark gray and 

 even ; inner red, thick, and gummy; wood solid, and reddish, 

 and is used as timber for various purposes. An aromatic 

 oil is drawn from the kernels, which is much esteemed in 

 disorders of the breast. The red gum that issues from the 

 bark has a strong aromatic smell, and is much used in the 

 cure of wounds. It is supposed that the wild swine first dis- 

 covered this use of it ; and hence it has acquired the name of 

 Sois Cochon, or Hogs-wood. Native of St. Domingo. 



Hedycaryn ; a genus of the class Dioecia, order Icosandria. 

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

 wheel-shaped, eight or ten cleft ; clefts lanceolate, nearly 

 equal; in the female permanent. Corolla: none. Male. 

 Stamina: filamenta none; antherse very many, (fifty,) oblong, 

 four-furrowed, bearded at the tip, distributed along the whole 

 bottom of the calix. Female. Pistil: germina numerous, 

 flatted-globular, placed each on a cylindric pedicel in the 

 middle of the calix ; styles none ; stigmas little protuberances 

 scattered over the germina. Pericarp: none. Seeds: nuts 

 six or ten, pedicelled, globular, somewhat bony; kernels 

 solitary, globular. Keceplacle : in the middle of the calix, 

 woody. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : eight or ten cleft. 

 Corolla: none. Male. Filamenta none; antheree in the 

 bottom of the calix, four-furrowed, bearded at the tip. 

 Female. Germina pedicelled ; nuts pedicelled, one-seeded. 

 The only known species is, 



1. Hedycarya Dentata. A smooth shrub. Leaves alter- 

 nate, oblong, serrate, on short petioles, very smooth, veined ; 

 the veins almost transverse; racemes axillary; calices hir- 

 sute; nuts very sweet. Native of New Zealand. 



Hedychium ; a genus of the class Monandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Anther: two-lobed, re- 

 curved, terminal, embracing the style, without any appen- 

 dage. Outer limb of the Corolla : in three equal linear lobes ; 

 inner, in three parts, two-lipped. Flower: reversed. Tube: 

 longer than the limb. The species are, 



1. Hedychium Coronarium ; Sweet-scented Garland Flower. 

 Leaves lanceolate ; bractes imbricated, elliptical ; lip cloven. 

 Native of the East Indies, where it is very generally culti- 

 vated for ornament. 



2. Hedychium Ellipticum. Leaves elliptical, smooth ; 

 liractps imbricated, elliptical ; lip entire. Native of the East 

 Indies. 



3. Hedychium Spicatum. Leaves lanceolate ; spike elon- 

 gated ; bractes convoluted, single-flowered ; stamen much 

 shorter than the lip. Native of the East Indies. 



Hedycrea ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Mono- 

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

 hemispherical, five-toothed ; teeth sharp, patulous. Corolla : 

 none. Stamina: filamenta five, inserted into a ring, sur- 

 rounding the calix within, below the teeth, opposite to and 



shorter than they ; antheree roundish. Pistil ; germen 

 roundish, villose, superior; style longer than the calix, 

 bristle-shaped, villose; stigma blunt. Pericarp: drupe 

 oval, soft, fibrous within, one-celled. Seed: nut ovate, 

 covered with fibres, one-celled ; the shell hard. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: one-leafed, hemispherical, five-toothed. 

 Corolla : none. Drupe : oval, one-celled. Nut : ovate, 



covered with fibres, one-celled; the shell hard. The 



only species known is, 



1. Hedycrea Incuna. The extremities of the branches and 

 twigs have oval leaves, ending in a point, smooth and green 

 on the upper surface, covered with a very white down under- 

 neath, and placed alternately; their petiole is short, accom- 

 panied at the base by two opposite stipules. The flowers 

 grow in a spike at the ends of the branches and twigs ; they 

 are white, close, and sessile. The fruit is of the size of a 

 large olive, white, dotted on the outside with red ; the pulp 

 is white, melting, and of a sweetish taste ; the shell or nut is 

 bony, and separates with difficulty from the fibres in the pulp; 

 the kernel is two-lobed. This tree grows only to the height of 

 three or four feet, with a trunk rive or six inches in diameter. 

 The bark is ash-coloured, very thin, falling in large pieces, 

 and renewing itself every year. The wood is hard, whitish, 

 and when sawed has the smell of rancid oil. Native of Gui- 

 ana, where it is called caligni by the natives, who are very 

 fond of the fruit, which is ripe in November and December. 



Hedyosmum ; a genus of the class Mouoecia, order Polyan- 

 dria, GENERIC CHARACTER. Male Flowers. Calix: ament 

 without scales, covered on every side with staminas.; perianth 

 none. Corolla: none. Stamina: filamenta none; antherae 

 very many, imbricately heaped together, upright, oblong, 

 acuminate at the tip, converging at the base into an oblong 

 ament, and placed on a linear receptacle. Females, solitary 

 on the same tree. Calix: perianth one-leafed, covering the 

 germen, three-toothed at the tip: teeth minute, upright. 

 Corolla: none. Pistil: germen oblong, three-cornered; style 

 very short, three-cornered ; stigma simple, obtuse. Peri- 

 carp : berry roundish, three-cornered, small, superior. Seed: 

 single, hard, three-sided, shining. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Male. Ament: covered with antherae. No perianth, corolla, 

 or filamenta. Female. Calix: three-toothed. Corolla: none. 

 Style: one, three-cornered. Berry: three-cornered, one- 

 seeded. The species are, 



1. Hedyosmum Nutans. Stem shrubby; branches loose; 

 leaves lanceolate, acuminate. Native of Jamaica. 



2. Hedyosmum Arborescen$. Stem arborescent ; branches 

 stitt", upright; leaves ovate-lanceolate. Native of Jamaica. 



Hedyotis ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Mono ' 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, four-parted, superior, permanent; parts linear, sharp. 

 Corolla : monopetalous, funnel-shaped, a little longer than 

 the calix, half four-cleft ; clefts patulous, nearly equal. 

 Stamina : filamenta four, subulate, inserted at the sinuses of 

 the corolla; antherae roundish. Pistil: germen roundish, 

 inferior ; style filiform, the length of the stamina ; stigmas 

 two, thickish. Pericarp: capsule twin-globular, two-celled, 

 gaping next the coronal ; calix with a transverse cleft. Seeds: 

 few, angular. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: mono- 

 petalous, funnel-shaped. Capsules: two-celled, many-seeded, 

 inferior. The species are, 



1. Hedyotis Maritime. Leaves oval, blunt, on short peti- 

 oles, fleshy ; flowers opposite, sessile ; stems herbaceous, 

 prostrate, a hand in length, smooth and even ; fruit the size 

 of coriander. Native of the East Indies. 



2. Hedyotis Pumila. Leaves ovate, sharp; flowers alternate, 

 peduncled ; root annual ; stems little, branched, a hand in 



