I S A 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



ISC 



763 



this should not be laid on till the last ploughing before the 

 seeds are sown, and not spread but as the land is ploughed, 

 that the sun may not exhale the goodness of it, which is soon 

 evaporated if it be spread on the ground in summer. The 

 quantity should not be less than twenty loads to each acre, which 

 will keep the ground in heart till the crop of Woad be spent. 

 The time for gathering the crop is according to the season, 

 but it should be performed as soon as the leaves are fully 

 grown, while perfectly green; for, when they begin to change 

 pale, great part of their goodness is gone, and the quantity 

 also will be much diminished. If the land be good, and the 

 crop well husbanded, it will produce three or four gatherings, 

 but the two first are the best, and are commonly mixed toge- 

 ther when used. The after crops are always kept separate, 

 for if mixed they would be of little value. The two first crops 

 will sell at from twenty-five to thirty pounds and upwards per 

 ton, but the latter will not bring more than seven or eight, 

 and sometimes not so much. An acre of land will produce a 

 ton of Woad, and in good seasons nearly a ton and half. 

 When the planters intend to save the seeds, they cut three 

 crops of the leaves, and then let the plants stand till the 

 next year for seed; but if only one crop is cut, and that only 

 of the outer leaves, letting all the middle leaves stand to nou- 

 rish the stalks, the plants will grow stronger, and produce a 

 much greater quantity of seeds. These seeds are often kept 

 two years, but it is always best to sow new seeds when they 

 can be obtained. The seeds ripen in August, and should be 

 gathered when the pods turn to a dark colour ; which is best 

 done by reaping in the same way as for Wheat, spreading the 

 stalks in rows upon the ground. In four or five clays' dry 

 weather the seeds will be fit to thresh out; but if they lie long, 

 the pods will open and let them fall out. Some Woad-planters 

 feed down the leaves in winter with sheep, which is a very bad 

 method ; for all plants which are to remain for a future crop, 

 should never be eaten by cattle, for that greatly weakens them. 

 Those who cultivate this commodity, have gangs of people 

 who have been bred to the employment, so that whole fami- 

 lies travel about from place to place, wherever their principal 

 fixes on land for the purpose. These persons, however, 

 always go on in one track, just as their predecessors taught 

 them, nor have their principals deviated much from the prac- 

 tice of their ancestors ; so that there is a larere field for im- 

 provement, if any of the cultivators of Woad should happily 

 prove men of genius, who could be prevailed upon to adopt 

 the garden culture of this plant. The method practised by 

 some of the most skilful gardeners in the culture of Spinach, 

 would be a great improvement to this plant; for some of them 

 have improved the Round-leaved Spinach so much by cul- 

 ture, as to have the leaves more than six times the size they 

 formerly were, and their fatness has increased in the same 

 proportion upon the same land ; which has been affected by 

 thinning the plants while young, and keeping them free from 

 weeds. Woad, besides the use of it among dyers, is pos- 

 sessed of several medicinal virtues. A strong infusion of the 

 tops of the plant operates by urine; and, when continued to 

 be used for a considerable time, is excellent for curing ob- 

 structions of the liver and spleen. 



2. Isatis Lusitanica; Portugal Woad. Root-leaves cre- 

 nate; stem-leaves sagittate; silicles subtomentose ; flowers 

 white. Native of Portugal and the Levant. 



3. Isatis Armena; Armenian Woad. Leaves quite entire, 

 cordate, blunt behind ; silicles cordate. Stem a foot high, 

 loaded with yellow flowers. Native of dry pastures, by the 

 side of brooks, in Armenia. 



4. Isatis jEgyptiaca; Egyptian Woad. All the leaves 

 toothed. Annual, and a native of Egypt. 



5. Isatis Alpina; Alpine Woad. Leaves lanceolate, half 

 embracing, cordate ; silicles ovate. Stem half a yard high ; 

 flowers in a sort of umbel, in short racemes, yellow, on yel- 

 low filiform peduncles. Native of the mountains of Piedmont. 

 This, and the three preceding sorts, are not cultivated for use, 

 but are preserved only in botanic gardens. The second and 

 fifth may be propagated by seeds sown in autumn ; the third 

 and fourth are too tender to live in the open air, and must be 

 raised by seeds on a hot-bed in the spring. 



Ischeemum; a genus of the class Polygamia, orcter Monrecia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : glume two-flowered, bi- 

 valve, cartilaginous, placed transversely; valves nearly equal, 

 the exterior subovate, gibbose, with a bifid tip, sharp ; the 

 upper part of the back flat in the middle, striated, emarginated ; 

 the interior oblong, acuminate or awned at the tip, the back 

 beneath the tip increased by a longitudinal membrane. Flos- 

 cule: exterior male, interior hermaphrodite, each less than the 

 calix. Corolla : in the hermaphrodite, a bivalve glume : valves 

 membranaceous, thin, colourless ; the exterior bellied, either 

 mutic or awned, bifid to the very awn, acute; awn long, 

 slender, jointed, tortile beneath ; the interior lanceolate, 

 acute, conduplicate at the edges. In the male, a bivalve 

 glume rather firmer, diaphanous, rather coloured; the exterior 

 oblong, bellied, contracted above, sharp, mutic; the interior 

 oblong, obtuse, with concave back, acutely margined ; mar- 

 gin thinner. Nectary: in each two-leaved; leaflets small, 

 spatulate, truncate-emarginate. Stamina : filamenta three, 

 capillary, short ; antheree oblong, bifid on both sides. Pis- 

 til: in the hermaphrodites, germen oblong; styles two, capil- 

 lary, erect, shorter Chan the corolla; stigmas oblong, plu- 

 mose, spreading, exserted. Pericarp : none ; calix and co- 

 rolla unchanged. Seed: (in the hermaphrodite) single, oblong, 

 linear, convex on one side. Observe" The flowers are spi- 

 cated, and grow double ; the one subsessile, the other seated 

 on a broad glumaceous footstalk ; each hermaphrodite. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Hermaphrodite. Calix: glume two- 

 flowered. Corolla : two-valved. Stamina : three. Styles : 

 three. Seed : one. Male. Calix and Corolla : as in the 

 other. Stamina : three. 'The species are, 



1. Ischeemum Muticum. Leaves lanceolate ; flowers awn- 

 less. Culms a foot or eighteen inches high; spike two-parted, 

 terminating, joined so as to appear one, or one divided to the 

 base. Native of the East Indies, and of the Isle of Tanna. 



2. Ischfemum Aristatum. Leaves lanceolate ; calices two- 

 flowered ; pedicels ciliate ; each female flower with a twisted 

 knee-jeinted awn. Culm a foot and half high, branched, de- 

 cumbent, and rooting with hairy joints. Native of China. 



3. Ischeemum Imberbe. Leaves lanceolate ; florets naked ; 

 outer valve of the sessile calix having two knobs on each 

 side, and the corolla elongated by a twisted awn. Culms 

 two feet high, leafy, somewhat branched. Native of the 

 East Indies. 



4. Ischeemum Barbatum. Leaves lanceolate; calices two- 

 flowered, bearded at the base, and ciliate at the edge, the 

 edge of the sessile one with two knobs on each side ; awn 

 twisted, knee-jointed. Culm like the preceding ; spike 

 longer, two-parted, awned, with the teeth of the rachis cili- 

 ate-bearded. Native of Java. 



5. Ischaemum Muricum. Spike two-parted; calix and seed 

 awned. Culms filiform, slender, simple, a long span in height ; 

 spikes closely converging, cylindrical, two inches long. Na- 

 tive of the Isle of Tanna, on dry sand, near the coast. 



6. Ischsemum Involutum. Spike directed one way, awn- 

 less, four-flowered, involved in a leafy cone or receptacle. 

 Native of the Society Isles, Otaheite, &c. 



7. Ischaemum Importunum. Panicle contracted ; corollas 



