NIT 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



NUR 



173 



filiform, erect, the length of the petals; anthera at the top of 

 tlie tilamentum, perforated, twelve-grooved, oblong. Female 

 flowers, terminating. Calix: spathes as in the male. Corolla: 

 none. Pistil: germen angular, often five-angled, obliquely 

 truncate, smooth ; style and stigma none, but in their stead a 

 groove on each side. Pericarp: drupes very many, aggregate 

 in ahead, the size of the human head, angular; angles unequal, 

 acute or blunt, attenuated below, blunted above, and smooth. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male: spathe. Corolla: six- 

 petalled. Female: spathe. Corolla: none. Drupes : angu- 

 lar. The only known species is, 



1. Nipa Fruticans. Trunk in the young Palm none, but 

 in an adult state some feet in height; leaves pinnate; pinnas 

 striated, margined, acuminate, smooth. Flowers male and 

 female, on the same plant, but distinct on different peduncles. 

 The fruit is eaten both raw and preserved. Native of Java, 

 and other islands -in the East Indies, where the leaves are 

 used for covering houses and making mats. 



Nipplewort. See Lapsana. 



Nissolia; a genus of the class Diadelphia, order Decandria. 

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

 shaped, five-toothed, with the upper teeth deeper. Corolla: 

 papilionaceous; banner roundish, subemarginate, reflex, with 

 the edges folded back; wings oblong, blunt, erect, broader 

 at top, spreading in front; keel closed, of the same form with 

 the wings. Stamina: filamenta ten, united into a cylinder, 

 cloven above; anthere roundish. Pistil: germen oblong, 

 compressed; style awl-shaped, ascending at aright angle; 

 stigma capitate, obtuse. Pericarp: capsule oblong, round, of 

 two or three joints, running out into a ligulate wing. Seed: 

 one in each joint, oblong, round, blunt. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Ca&r: five-toothed. Capsule: one seeded, ending 

 in a ligulate wing. The species are, 



1. Nissolia Arborea; Tree Nissolia. Stem arboreous, 

 erect. This is an inelegant tree, twelve feet high, the branches 

 of which being often weak and bending, require support. 

 Leaves deciduous, pinnate orternate. Native of Carthagena 

 in New Spain; where it is found flowering in the woods in 

 July and August. 



2. Nissolia Fruticosa; Shrubby Nissolia. This is a thorn- 

 less shrub, with numerous twining stems and branches, 

 climbing the trees to the height of fifteen feet. Leaves 

 numerous, alternate, pinnate, subvil'ose; flowers peduncled 

 small, yellow, inodorous. Native of Carthagena, in woods 

 and coppices ; flowering in September. 



Nitraria ; a genus of the class Dodecandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, five-cleft, erect, very short, permanent. Corolla 

 petals five, oblong, spreading, channelled, arched at top with 

 an inflex dagger-point. Stamina: filamenta fifteen, awl- 

 shaped, almost erect, the length of the corolla; antheree 

 roundish. Pistil: germen ovate, ending in a thickish style 

 longer than the stamina; stigma simple. Pericarp: drupi 

 one-celled, ovate-oblong, acuminate. Seed: nut solitary 

 three-celled, ovate, acuminate. Observe. The germen when 

 immature is three-celled; nut scrobiculate, one-celled, six 

 valved at top; style very short, trifid. ESSENTIAL CIIA 

 RACTER. Calix : five-cleft. Corolla: five-petalled, with th 

 petals arched at top. Stamina: fifteen or more. Drupe 



one-seeded. The only known species is, 



1. Nitraria Schoberi; Thick-leaved Nitraria. There ar 

 two varieties of this shrub; one in the squalid nitro salin 

 parts of the desert extending from the north of the Caspiai 

 Sea; the stems of which are nearly upright, almost unarmed 

 it is also the largest in all its parts. The other, is found i 

 the salt plains of Siberia, between the rivers Irtis and Obo, b 



salt lakes near the Jenisca, and beyond the lake Baikal, 

 t is prostrate, tender, thorny, and smaller than the other in 

 11 its parts. Pallas informs us, that the berries, though 

 altish and insipid, are eaten in the Caspian desert, and are 

 Imost the only luxury in that arid soil. Linneus had this 

 hrub twenty years, before it flowered in Sweden: and during 

 en years having in vain tried to make it flower in the gar- 

 .en at Upsal, he at length succeeded, by watering it with 

 alt water. 



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

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leaf- 

 ;d, turbinate at the base, five-parted, five-cornered; segments 

 ordate, acute, permanent. Corolla : one-petalled, bell-shaped, 

 )laited, spreading, somewhat five-lobed, twice as large as the 

 calix. Stamina: filamenta five, awl-shaped, erect, equal, 

 horter than the cprolla; antherse sagittate. Pistil: germina 

 ive, roundish; style among the germina, cylindric, straight, 

 he length of the stamina; stigma capitate. Pericarp: pro- 

 >erly none. According to Gsertner, drupes five, decumbent, 

 hree or five celled. Seeds: five, with a succulent rind, 

 roundish, with the inner base naked, immersed in the recep- 

 ;acle, two-celled, and four-seeded. ESSENTIAL CHARAC- 

 TER. Corolla: bell-shaped. Style: among the germina. 

 Seeds: five, berried, two-celled. According to Gsertner, 

 drupes five, three or five celled, with one seed in each cell. 



The only known species is, ' 



1. Nolana Prostrata; Trailing Nolana. Root annual, 

 simple, filiform, often three feet long, blackish ; stem a foot 

 ong, herbaceous, prostrate, roundish, very smooth, with white 

 dots scattered over it; branches alternate, the lower ones the 

 length of the stalk; leaves alternate, two together, reflex, 

 rhomb-ovate, quite entire, blunt, somewhat fleshy, an inch 

 long ; flowers inferior ; corolla of a fine blue colour, with 

 dark purple veins at the throat; calix pale purple. It flowers 

 in July, and ripens seed in September. Native of Peru. 

 To propagate it, the seeds should be sown on a hot-bed in 

 March. When the plants are fit to remove, transplant them 

 singly into small pots filled with light earth, and plunge 

 them into a fresh hot-bed to bring the plants forward, 

 otherwise they will not ripen their seeds in this country. 

 When their flowers open in July, they should have a large 

 share of air admitted to them when the weather is warm, 

 to prevent their flowers from falling away without producing 

 seeds. With this management, the plants will continue flower- 

 ing till the early frosts destroy them; and ripe seeds will be 

 produced in the beginning of September. 



Noli me Tangere. Sec Impatiens. 



None-so-pretty. See Saxifraga. 



None-such. See Medicago Litpulina. 



Nose-bleed. See Achillea Ptarmico. 



Nursery. Upon this subject, so important to all farmer* 

 and gardeners, and to the public in general, we shall subjoin 

 the observations of the celebrated Philip Miller at full length. 

 He defines the nursery-garden to be a piece of land set 

 apart for the raising and propagating all sorts of trees and 

 plants to supply the gardens and plantations. Of this kind 

 there is an immense number in various parts of the kingdom, 

 but especially in the neighbourhood of London, which are 

 occupied by the gardeners, whose business it. is to raise trees, 

 plants, and flowers, for sale; and in many of these there is 

 at present a much greater variety of trees and plants culti- 

 vated than can be found in any other part of Europe. Put 

 I do not, says Mr. Miller, propose to treat of these extensive 

 nurseries, nor to give a description of them, and shall con- 

 fine myself to such nurseries only as are absolutely necessary 

 for all lovers of planting to have upon the spot where they 



