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OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



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183 



OAK. See Quereus. 



Oak of Cappadocia. See Chenopodium Ambrosiaides. 



Oak of Jerusalem. See Chenopodium Anthelminticum. 



Oat. See Avena Sativa. 



Oat Grass. See Avena. 



Obolaria; a genus of the class Didynamia, order Angio- 

 spermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Cater: none, except 

 twobractes. CoroWa:one-petalIed, unequal; tube bell-shaped, 

 ventricose, pervious ; border four-cleft, spreading a little ; 

 segments shorter than the tube, bifid, a little unequally laci- 

 niated. Stamina: filamenta four, awl-shaped, from the slits 

 of the corolla, the nearest a little longer; antheree small. 

 Pistil: germen ovate, compressed; style subcylindric, the 

 length of the stamina; stigma bifid, thickish, permanent. 

 Pericarp: capsule subovate, compressed, ventricose, one- 

 celled, two-valved, with the partition contrary. Seeds : nume- 

 rous, small like meal. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 two-leaved, or none, except two bractes. Corolla: four-cleft, 

 bell-shaped. Stamina: from the slits of the corolla. Capsule: 



one-celled, two-valved, many-seeded. The only known 



species is, 



1. Obolaria Virginica. Stem simple; leaves opposite, the 

 upper ones purple on the outside; flowers in terminating 

 spikes, clustered at the top, pale red. It has the habit of 

 Orobanche, and is allied to that genus. Native of Vir- 

 ginia and Pennsylvania. 



Ochna; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 interior, coriaceous, permanent, five-parted; parts ovate, blunt, 

 spreading, (rather five-leaved.) Corolla : petals five to 

 twelve, caducous. Stamina: filamenta many, short; antherse 

 roundish. Pistil: germen ovate, angular, five-cleft; style 

 angular, erect, permanent; stigma simple. Pericarp: none. 

 Seeds: nuts five, ovate, erect, compressed a little on the out- 

 side, somewhat convex, slightly excavated within, blunt, with 

 a thin shell; receptacle very large, fleshy, depressed, five- 

 cornered; corners protuberant, rounded, keeled at top, to 

 each of which is fastened a nut, with a triangular rounded 

 scar ; ribs five, between the corners of the receptacle, running 

 down from the vertex to the base, and raised. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: five-leaved. Corolla: five-petalled. 

 Berries: one-seeded, fastened to a large roundish receptacle. 

 The species are, 



1. Ochna Squarrosa. Racemes lateral. This is a small 

 tree. Leaves alternate, oblong, acute, finely serrate, smooth, 

 on short petioles, the youngest remarkably coloured with 

 purple, four or five inches long, and two broad; flowers large, 

 yellow, inodorous. This is the Yerrajuvie of the Telingas, 

 which the Cingalese call Bokaerae. Native of the East Indies 

 and Africa. In the Circar mountains, it flowers about the 

 beginnnig of the hot season, about which time they produce 

 their leaves, which they cast in the cold season. 



2. Ochna Jabotapita. Racemes terminating. This is a 

 middle-sized tree, with a grey irregular bark, and a soft pliant 

 wood. Leaves alternately opposite, pale green : flowers abun- 

 dant, on certain branchlets, yellow and very sweet. Native 

 of South America. 



3. Ochna Parvifolia. Peduncles one-flowered. This is a 

 shrub resembling the first species, except in the size of the 

 leaves and inflorescence. Native of Arabia Felix. 



Ochroma; a genus of the class Monadelphia, order Pent- 

 andria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth double; 

 outer three-leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, caducous ; inner one- 

 leafed, funnel-form, five-cleft. Corolla : petals five, wedge-form, 

 coriaceous. Stamina: filamentum one, cylindric ; antheree five, 

 large, linear, connate, creeping up and down. Pistil: germen 

 8 1. 



superior, oblong ; style filiform, covered with the cylinder of 

 the stamina; stigmas five, awl-shaped, wide, contorted. Peri- 

 carp: capsule coriaceous, subcylindric, five-grooved, com- 

 monly ten-cornered, five-celled, five-valved ; valves woolly 

 within, rolled back at the edge; partitions kidney-form. 

 Seed: very many, oblong. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: double; outer three-leaved. Antheree: connate, irre- 

 gularly furrowed. Capsule: five-celled, many-seeded. 



The only known species is, 



1 . Ochroma Lagopus ; Down Tree. This is a very large 

 tree, with divaricating branches ; wood white, tender, and so 

 light that it is used instead of cork to nets. Bark thick, 

 fibrous, ash-coloured, varied with white spots, and netted with 

 rufescent wrinkles; leaves above a foot long, with rufesceut 

 hairs ; stalks as long again as the leaves, round, rusty-coloured ; 

 flowers erect, three or four inches long, pale red or yellowish, 

 succulent and fleshy; seeds inclosed in a fine rusty down. 

 Native of the Antilles, and of America. 



Ochroxylum; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Tri- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five-cleft, 

 very small, permanent; segments ovate, acute, spreading a 

 little. Corolla: petals five, ovate, reflex, bluntish, excavated 

 below the tip, thickish, with a thinner margin; nectary an 

 angular gland, subtrilobate, fleshy. Stamina: filamenta five, 

 awl-shaped, flattish below, erect, a little longer than the co- 

 rolla ; antherse roundish, incumbent. Pistil: germina three, 

 placed on the nectary, outwardly gibbous ; styles short ; 

 stigmas simple. Pericarp : capsules three, approximating, 

 subglobular, inwardly compressed, placed on the lobes of the 

 nectary, now become larger, and three-lobed, one-celled, 

 opening on the inside ? Seeds : two, convex on one side, 

 compressed and angular on the other. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix : five-cleft. Petals : five. Nectary : an 

 annular three-lobed gland. Capsula: three, approximating, 

 one-celled, two-seeded. Nothing more is known of the 

 above genera, than what Schreber has here stated. 



Ocimum; a genus of the class Didynamia, order Gymno- 

 spermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, two-lipped, very short, permanent; upper lip flat, or- 

 biculate, wider, ascending; lower lip four-cleft, acute, con- 

 verging. Corolla : one-petalled, ringent, resupine ; tube very 

 short, spreading; one lip turned upwards, wider, half four- 

 cleft, blunt, equal; the other lip turned downwards, narrower, 

 entire, serrate, longer. Stamina: filamenta four, declined; two 

 a little longer, and two putting forth a reflex process at the 

 base; anther half-mooned. Pistil: germen four-parted; 

 style filiform, situation and length of the stamina; stigma 

 bifid. Pericarp : none. Calix : closed, cherishing the seeds. 

 Seeds: four, -ovate. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: with 

 the upper lip orbiculate, the lower four-cleft. Corolla: resu- 

 pine, with one lip four-cleft, the other undivided. Fila- 

 menta: the two outer putting forth a reflex process at the 

 base. These plants being most of them annual, are propagated 

 from seeds, sown in March upon a moderate hot-bed ; and 

 when they come up are to be transplanted into another mode- 

 rate hot-bed, where they must be watered, and shaded until 

 they have taken root; after which they must have plenty 

 of air in mild weather, and must be watered frequently. la 

 May they should be taken up with a ball of earth to their 

 roots, and planted out in either pots or borders; shading and 

 watering them as before. They may also be increased by 

 cuttings, taken off any time in May, and planted in a moderate 

 hot-bed, observing to shade and water them during ten days ; 

 and in three weeks' time they will be fit to remove. The seeds 

 are usually brought from the south of France, or Italy, every 

 spring, because some of the sorts seldom ripen their seeds in 

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