746 



ILL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



IM P 



12. lllecebrum Capitatum ; Hooded Knot Grass. Flowers 

 with shining bractes, hiding terminating heads ; stems some- 

 what erect; leaves ciliate, villose underneath. This is an 

 annual plant, which distinguishes it from the tenth species. 

 Villars contradicts this, and says it is perennial. Native of 

 Provence, Spain, and the Levant. 



13. lllecebrum Benghalense. Stem upright, herbaceous; 

 leaves alternate and opposite, lanceolate, pubescent. Root 

 annual ; spikes small, hirsute, white, not only from the axils 

 of the leaves, but also at the top, where they glomerate with- 

 out the leaves. Native of Bengal, Java, &c. 



14. lllecebrum Arabicum. Flowers scattered, heaped ; 

 bractes shining, equalling them ; stems procumbent. Found 

 in Arabia. 



15. lllecebrum Acayrantha ; Creeping lllecebrum. Stems 

 creeping, hairy; leaves ovate, mucronate, one opposite, 

 smaller; heads subglobular, somewhat spiny. Root annual. 

 From the axils of the leaves proceed heads of flowers, the 

 whole length of the stem, but especially on the extreme 

 branchlets ; they are chaffy, prickly, and composed of many 

 pale juiceless scales, in which very minute and scarcely con- 

 spicuous flowers lie concealed. Native of Buenos Ayres. 



16. lllecebrum Polyganoides. Stems creeping, rough- 

 haired ; leaves broad-lanceolate, petioled ; heads orbiculate, 

 naked. Flowers axillary, white, and under them a three- 

 leaved bracte shorter than the flower. Browne says that this 

 little plant is found creeping in all the low lands and dry 

 savannas about Kingston in Jamaica; that it generally grows 

 in tufts, and spreads about six or eight inches from the root. 

 He calls it Hairy Rupturewort, supposing it to be a Herni- 

 aria. Native of the sea-shores of America. 



17. Illecebrum Ficoideum. Stems creeping, smooth ; 

 leaves broad-lanceolate, petioled ; heads orbiculate, pubescent. 

 It puts out roots at every joint. Heads of flowers roundish, 

 sessile, numerous. Jacquin says, it abounds so in the mea- 

 dows of Martinico as to be a noxious weed. It grows wild 

 in Spain. Native of the coast of America. 



18. lllecebrum Sessile ; Sessile-flowered lllecebrum. Stems 

 creeping, bifariously tomentose; leaves lanceolate, subsessile; 

 heads oblong, smooth. Flowers white, in round, axillary, 

 heads, often two together. Annual, flowering from July to 

 October. Native of the East Indies, and of wet places about 

 Canton in China. 



19. lllecebrum Vermiculatum. Stems creeping, smooth ; 

 leaves subcylindric, fleshy ; heads oblong, smooth, terminat- 

 ing. This plant spreads a great way among the grass, and 

 throws out a few fibrous roots at every joint. The whole 

 plant has a reddish-brown cast, and something the appearance 

 of Portulacca, or Purslain. Native of Brazil and Curasao. 

 Very common about Rock-river in Jamaica, and on the sandy 

 shores of South America. 



20. lllecebrum Alsinefolium. Stems diffused; leaves ovate; 

 flowers heaped ; bractes shining. Native of Spain. 



21. lllecebrum Frutescens. Stems shrubby, diffused, dicho- 

 tomous ; leaves opposite, mealy. Root woody, branched, 

 gray; spikes solitary, axillary, sessile whilst flowering, but 

 peduncled whilst fruiting, ovate, imbricate, three lines long ; 

 flowers crowded very close, imbricate, sessile, of an herba- 

 ceous colour, two lines long. The flowers appear and ripen 

 into seed in summer. 



Illicium ; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Polygvnia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth six-leaved, deci- 

 duous ; the three inferior leaflets oval; the three superior 

 alternate ones narrower, and resembling petals. Corolla: 

 petals many, (twenty-seven,) disposed in a triple series; the 

 nine inferior obtuse, concave; the nine middle shorter and 



narrower; the interior nine shorter and narrower still. Sta- 

 mina: filamentu very many, (thirty,) short, depressed ; antheree 

 upright, oblong, obtuse, emarginate. Pistil: germina very 

 many, (twenty,) disposed iti a circle, ending in very short 

 spreading styles ; stigmas at the upper side of the style, 

 oblong. Pericarp : capsules several, (Loureiro says eight,) 

 ovate, compressed, hard, spreading into a circle, bivalve, (but 

 according to Loureiro, one-valved ; and to Gaertner, opening 

 at the upper edge.) Seed: solitary, ovate, rather compressed, 

 glossy. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: six-leaved. Pe- 

 tals: twenty-seven. Capsule: several, disposed in a circle, 

 bivalve, one-seeded. The species are, 



1. Illicium Anisatum; Yellow-flowered Starry Aniseed Tree. 

 Flowers yellow. Stem arboreous, a fathom or more in height, 

 smooth all over; leaves aggregate, in threes or fours, elliptic, 

 broader near the tip, evergreen, two inches long ; flowers 

 axillary, peduncled, solitary; capsules six or eight, ovate- 

 lanceolate, compressed a little, horizontal, of a substance 

 like cork, rugged without, smooth and even within, having 

 a strong smell of Anise when rubbed. The whole plant, but 

 especially the fruit, has a pleasant aromatic smell, and a 

 sweetish subacrid taste. It is stomachic and carminative, 

 and is used in eastern countries in the colic, rheumatism, &c. 

 In China it is also in frequent use for seasoning dishes, espe- 

 cially such as are sweet. The Japanese plant bundles and 

 garlands of this tree in their temples before their idols, and 

 on the tombs of their friends. They also use the pounded 

 bark as incense to their idols ; and when finely powdered, 

 this bark is used by the public watchmen to make a chrono- 

 meter, for measuring the hours, by slowly sparkling at certain 

 spaces as it burns in a box, in order to direct when the public 

 bells are to sound. Native of China and Japan. It may be 

 propagated by seeds, if they can be procured; or by laying 

 down the young branches ; or by cuttings, which strike freely. 

 It requires the same management as Gardenia; which see. 



2. Illicium Floridanum; Red-flowered Aniseed Tree. Flow- 

 ers red. Stem arboreous ; general appearance like that of 

 the preceding species; petals from twenty to twenty-seven; 

 leaves extremely fragrant. Native of Florida. 



Immortal Flower, or Life Everlasting. See Gnaphalium. 



Impatiens ; (Balsam) a genus of the class Syngenesis, 

 order Monogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth 

 two-leaved, very small ; leaflets roundish, acuminate, equal, 

 placed towards the sides of the flower, coloured, deciduous. 

 Corolla: five-petalled, ringent ; petals unequal, of which the 

 superior is roundish, flat, upright, slightly trifid, constituting 

 the upper lip ; lower pair reflex, very large, outwardly larger, 

 obtuse, irregular, constituting the lower lip; intermediate 

 pair opposite, rising from the base of the upper petal ; nec- 

 tary one-leafed, receiving in the manner of a hood the base 

 of the flower, oblique at the mouth, rising outwardly, ending 

 in a horn at the base. Stamina : filamenta five, very short, 

 narrower towards the base, incurved; antherae as many, con- 

 nate, divided at the base. Pistil: germen superior, ovate, 

 acuminate ; style none ; stigma simple, shorter than the 

 antherse. Pericarp: capsule one-celled, five-valved, spring- 

 ing open elastically, the valves rolling up spirally. Seeds: 

 several, roundish, fixed to a columnar receptacle. Observe. 

 In some species the middle petals are wanting, and in some 

 the horn of the nectary ; the capsule also differs in figure. 

 l-Nsi NTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: two-leaved. Corolla: 

 five-petalled, irregular, with a cowled nectary. Capsx/t . 

 superior, five-valved. The seed of all the plants of this genus, 

 except the eighth and twelfth, should be sown on a moderate 

 hot-bed in the spring, and when they are come up about an 

 inch high, they should be transplanted on another hot-bed 



