H IP 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



H I P 



695 



Hippopha ; a genus of the class Dioecia, order Tetrandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix: perianth of one 

 leaf, two-parted, tjvo-valved, with the bottom entire; the 

 parts roundish, blunt, concave, upright, converging at the tips, 

 and gaping on the sides. Corolla : none. Stamina : filamenta 

 four, very short; antherse oblong, angular, almost the length 

 of the calix. Femak. Calix : perianth one-leafed, ovate-ob- 

 long, tubular, club-shaped, with the mouth cloven, deciduous. 

 Corolla : none. Pistil : germen roundish, small ; style sim- 

 ple, very short ; stigma thickish, oblong, upright, twice as 

 long as the calix. Pericarp: berry superior, subglobular, 

 one-celled. Seeds : single, oblong, hard, shining. Observe. 

 Hermaphrodite flowers have sometimes been observed among 

 the males. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. Calix: two- 

 parted. Corolla : none. Female. Calix : tubular, cloven. 

 Corolla: none. Style: one. Berry: one-seeded. These 

 shrubs may be easily propagated by suckers from the root, 

 taken off in autumn, and transplanted into a nursery. After 

 one year's growth they will be fit to transplant where they 

 are to remain. They may also be increased by layers, but 

 the roots spread, and put out such abundance of suckers, 

 that there is no necessity to be at this trouble. There being 

 little beauty in these shrubs, it will be sufficient to have one 

 or two of them in plantations. The species are, 



1. Hippophse Rhamnoides; Common Sea-Buckthorn, or 

 Sallow Thorn. Leaves lanceolate, scattered, about two inches 

 long, of a silvery white beneath. It rises with shrubby stalks 

 eight or ten feet high, sending out many irregular branches, 

 which have a brown bark silvered over. The branches spread 

 wide, are straight, stiff, and thorny at the ends, the lesser 

 ones numerous, scattered, short, and spreading. Flowers 

 solitary, appearing before the leaves, generally abortive, 

 unless the shrub grows in its natural situation. The female 

 flowers are sessile in the axils of the lower leaves : the male 

 flowers are subsessile, somewhat spiked, disposed in four rows 

 along the lesser branches. The flowers come out from the 

 branchlets of the former year. The berries are very abundant, 

 gratefully acid, and much eaten by the Tartars. They are 

 the principal food of the peasants upon Mount Caucasus. 

 The fishermen of the Gulf of Bothnia prepare a rob from 

 them, which imparts a grateful flavour to fresh fish. In sunny 

 situations this shrub is planted for hedges ; and is used for 

 dyeing yellow. Cows refuse it; goats, sheep, and horses, eat 

 it. It varies with red berries. Miller says, that he has 

 observed it only with yellow berries in England, but that he 

 had seen it on the sand-banks in Holland with red berries. 

 The Germans call itHaftdorn; the Dutch, Duinbessen; the 

 Swedes and Danes, Haftorn; the French, Aryoussier ; the 

 Spaniards, Espino Amarillo ; the Russians, Rakitnik. It 

 flowers in April and May; Ray says in June, and Miller in 

 July. Native of many parts of Europe, on sandy sea-coasts. 

 In England it is found near Sandwich, Deal, Folkstone, and 

 the Isle of Shepey in Kent ; upon Cley and Sheringham cliffs, 

 and between Yarmouth and Winterton, in Norfolk; in Lin- 

 colnshire ; and at Whitby and Lyth, in Yorkshire. 



2. Hippophse Canadensis ; Canadian Sea Buckthorn. 

 Leaves ovate. This has the appearance of the preceding 

 species, but the leaves are broader, and only half the length ; 

 the branches are opposite ; and the racemes simple among 

 the first leaves, upright, and shorter by half than the leaves. 

 Native of Canada. 



3. Hippophee Argentea. Leaves ovate, obtuse, glabrous 

 on both sides. This shrub resembles Eleagrus Orientalis so 

 much, that they might easily be mistaken for each other when 

 without fruit : but this species bears really a berry different 

 from the drupe of the other genus. Found by Mr. Lewis on 



the banks of the Missouri. Mr. T. Nuttall, who has recently 

 travelled through various parts of North America, and is as 

 skilful as he is indefatigable in botanical researches, has 

 added to the specific description of this plant given by Lewis, 

 the important particular, that the perianth is four-cleft. 



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

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: a two-lobed rim, 

 crowning the germen. Corolla : none. Stamina: filaraentum 

 one, upright, placed within the anterior lobe of the calix ; 

 antherse roundish, compressed. Pistil: germen oblong, 

 inferior; style one, awl-shaped, upright, from the hinder 

 lobe of the calix, longer than the stamen ; stigma sharp. 

 Pericarp: none. Seed: one, roundish, naked. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: a two-lobed rim to the germen. 



Corolla : none. Stigma : simple. Seed : one, inferior. 



The species are, 



1. Hippuris Vulgaris; Common Mare's Tail. Leaves eight 

 at a joint, awl-shaped ; root perennial, creeping, white, 

 jointed; the joints furnished with numerous capillary fibres: 

 stems numerous, a foot and half or more in height, upright, 

 quite simple, smooth, striated, round, jointed, spongy ; the 

 pith like a thread in the centre, compact, and in the roots 

 tough ; flowers axillary, sessile, one to each leaf, in the whorls 

 that are above water. Linneus remarks, that the flower of 

 this plant is as simple as can be conceived, having neither 

 calix nor corolla, only a single stamen and pistil, and one 

 seed. The situation also of the leaves, in whorls, is not usual 

 in European plants, except in the natural order of stellatse. 

 At the beginning of the summer, the flowers are mostly her- 

 maphrodite, but at the close of it many of them are female. 

 Gerarde calls this plant, Female Horse-tail, and Parkinson 

 Marsh Barren Horse-tail: Mr. Hudson first named it Mare's- 

 tail. The French call it Pesse d'Eau, a translation of one of 

 its old names Limnopeuce or Water Pine. The Germans 

 call it, Schafthalm, Tannenwedel ; the Dutch, Kattestaart, 

 Paardestaart ; the Danes, Hesterumpe, Van-Studekncea ; 

 the Swedes, Hastvans ; and the Italians, Hippuride. Native 

 of many parts of Europe, in ponds, ditches, marshes, and 

 rivers, especially where there is a depth of mud, and the 

 frost cannot reach the roots. In quiet waters it grows up- 

 right, in running waters it bends with the stream, but in 

 large lakes rises to the height of several feet. In some 

 countries it is a troublesome weed in rivers, and chokes up 

 the ditches ; but by absorbing a great quantity of inflammable 

 air, it is reputed to assist in purifying the putrid air of 

 marshes. Gmelin says, that the wild ducks in the north 

 feed upon it. Goats are also said to eat it. We do not 

 know that it is of any other use. It flowers from May to 

 August, and is not very common in England, though found 

 in several parts of Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Westmore- 

 land, Staffordshire, Leicestershire. Near London it is more 

 rare : Blackstone found it in Harefield river, and upon Ux- 

 bridge moor; Hudson, in the New River near Hornsey; and 

 Dr. Milne, near Stoke Newington and Highgate. 



2. Hippuris Tetraphylla ; Four-leaved Mare's Tail. Leaves 

 four at a joint, oblong, blunt. This is always very distinct 

 from the preceding, by its only having four leaves to a 

 whorl, and their being spatulate-ovate and blunt. It has 

 the appearance of Elatine Alsinanstrum, and is clearly a 

 gynandrous plant. Native of Sweden ; first discovered by 

 Schulsen near Abo in Finland. 



3. Hippuris Indica ; Indian Marc's Tail. Scape naked, four 

 feet high, very straight and simple, round, striated ; root tuber- 

 ous. This is a stemless plant, with a fibrous creeping root, 

 having many roundish, scattered, small, black, hairy tubers, 

 which are eatable. Native of the marshes of Cochin-china. 



