(EDE 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



(ENA 



185 



genus.- Native of the island of Tanna, and of the East 

 Indies. 



20. Ocimum Prostratum; Prostrate Basil. Stems pros- 

 trate; leaves elliptic, marked with lines; corolla very small, 

 blutsh.----Native of the East Indies. 



21. Ocimum Acutum; Sharp-leaved Basil. Racemes fili- 

 form; leaves ovate, acuminate, serrate; bractes rough-haired; 

 stem upright, smooth, even. Native of the East Indies. 



22. Ocimum Crispum; Curl-leaved Basil. Racemes ter- 

 minating; leaves ovate, serrate, curled; calices hispid; stem 

 upright, villose, branched. It is a native of Japan, and is 

 cultivated about Nagasaki, where it flowers in October and 

 November. The Japanese esteem an infusion of this herb 

 for colds and rheumatism, and colour the roots of black 

 radishes and turnips, with various fruits, of a deep red, with 

 a decoction of this plant. 



23. Ocimum Riigosum; Wrinkled Basil. Racemes ter- 

 minating; leaves ovate, acute, serrate, wrinkled underneath; 

 stem grooved very finely, tomentose, two feet high and more. 

 Native of Japan. 



24. Ocimum Inflexum. Panicle terminating, racemed; 

 stem and branches flexuose. The powder of this plant is 

 used by the Japanese to burn incense to their idols. Native 

 of Japan. 



25. Ocimum Virgatum. Racemes whorled, rod-like; leaves 

 oblong, serrate; stem deeply grooved, very finely toraentose, 

 flexuose, erect, branched. Native of Japan. 



CEdera; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Polyga- 

 mia Segregata. GENERIC CHARACTER. Cater: common 

 many-flowered, many-leaved, longer than the flowers, squar- 

 rose; leaflets lanceohate, the lower ones larger, containing- 

 several partial calicles ; partial many-leaved ; leaflets chaffy, 

 lanceolate, equal to the florets. Corolla: common radiate, 

 with many partial flowers : partial radiate, placed also in 

 the disk ; proper of the disk hermaphrodite, funnel-form, 

 five-cleft, erect; of the ray female, ligulate, lanceolate, the 

 length of the common calix. Stamina: in the hermaphro- 

 dites; filamenta five, very short; antherse cylindric. Pistil: 

 in the hermaphrodites ; germen obloag; style filiform ; stig- 

 mas two, filiform, blunt; in the females; germen oblong; 

 style filiform; stigmas two, filiform, longer. Pericarp: 

 none. Calix: unchanged. Seeds: in the hermaphrodites 

 oblong, crowned with very many acute short chaffs; in the 

 females oblong, crowned_also with very many chafts. Recep- 

 tacle: common chaffy; partial with linear deciduous chaffs. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calices: many-flowered. Corol- 

 lets: tubular ; hermaphrodite, with one or two female ligulate 



florets. Receptacle; chaffy. Down: of several chaffs. 



The species are, 



1. CEdera Prolifera. Leaves lanceolate, opposite, ciliate, 

 smooth on both sides. Stem shrubby, compound, with ascend- 

 ing branches, covered below with scars from fallen leaves ; 

 leaves opposite, sessile, narrow, acute, channelled, chiefly 

 abounding towards the ends of the branches, green; flowers 

 terminal, solitary, yellow; seeds uniform, oblong, compressed, 

 light brown. Native of the Cape, growing in sandy situ- 

 ations. 



2. CEdera Aliena. Leaves linear, tomentose underneath. 

 Stems two or three feet high, very leafy, round, glaucous, 

 branched; leaves numerous, scattered, resembling those of 

 Rosemary; flowers erect, of a very showy yellow, as large 

 as those of Marigold. The genus of this plant is doubtful; 

 it has the appearance of Stachlina or Gnaphalium, with the 

 flowers of Calendula. Native of the Cape. 



3. GEdera Hirta. Leaves ovate, entire, hairy. Native of 

 the Cape. 



CEnanthe; & genus of the class Pentandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. CaKx: umbel universal with 

 fewer rays ; partial heaped, with very many rays, but very 

 short, insomuch that there are often none ;- universal involu- 

 cre many-leaved, simple, shorter than the umbel ; partial 

 many-leaved, small, proper: perianth five-toothed, awl- 

 shaped, permanent. Corolla : universal difform, rayed ; 

 florets of the ray abortive; proper of the disk hermaphrodite, 

 with five inflex, cordate, almost equal petals ; proper of the 

 ray, male, with five very large, unequal, inflex, bifid petals. 

 Stamina: filamenta five, simple; antheree roundish. Pistil: 

 germen inferior, oblong; furrowed; styles two, awl-shaped, 

 permanent; stigmas blunt. Pericarp: none; fruit subovate, 

 crowned with the perianth and pistil, bipartile. Seeds: two, 

 subovate, on one side convex and striated, on the other flat, 

 toothed at the top. Observe. The perianth is more manifest 

 in this genus than in the other umbellate plants. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Florets: difform; in the disk sessile, barren. 

 Fruit: crowned with the calix and pistil, its bark corky. 

 The species are, 



1. CEnanthe Fistulosa; Common Water Dropwort. Stolo- 

 niferous ; stem-leaves pinnate, filiform, fistular. Roots tnber- 

 ous : according to HaHer, they are diffused widely in the 

 water and mud, where they sometimes have bundles of fibres 

 hanging to them ; in gardens they are little bulbs. Stem from 

 twelve to eighteen inches, and even two feet in height, rushy, 

 upright, striated, smooth, green, and glaucous, except at the 

 bottom, where it is red, and hollow within. The smell is 

 unpleasant, and the taste hot and nauseous, as in many of 

 the umbellate plants. This root is said to be poisonous, and 

 to have killed within three days} amd that out of seventeen 

 Corsican soldiers, who had eaten of it, three died, the rest 

 being cured by emetics. Linneus affirms that cows and 

 horses refuse it, though on experiment it did not appear to 

 be noxious to the former. Schreber informs us that it is left 

 untouched by cattle. The seed is slightly aromatic. So little 

 were deleterious effects suspected in this plant, that it was 

 recommended formerly, in common with many umbellate 

 plants, as a diuretic, and good in the stone and gravel; but 

 Linneus's is a good general rule, that aquatics of this natural 

 order, if not absolutely poisonous, are at least to be dis- 

 trusted. Native of most parts of Europe, in ponds, ditche?, 

 by river sides, in wet meadows, and marshes, flowering in 

 June and July. This plant will grow very well in the com- 

 mon ground, as will also the second and sixth species. 



2. CEnanthe Peucedanilolia; Sulphunoort-leaved Water 

 Dropwort. All the leaves linear; root-leaves bipinnate; 

 stem-leaves pinnate ; universal involucre none ; tubers of the 

 root ovate, sessile. The roots of this are composed of many 

 cylindric, ovate, white, sessile tubers, collected into a 

 bunch, each terminating in a white fibre at the base. 

 Dr. Withering, who considers this as only a variety of the 

 preceding, says, that in the plants which he procured in the 

 Isle of White, the leaflets are three or four inches long, 

 whereas in the preceding they are rarely more than half or 

 three quarters of an inch in length. Dr. Plot observed it 

 in the ditches about Medley and Binsey common, and almost 

 every where about Oxford ; at Blackstone, on Wandsworth 

 common; in Harefield river; and at Ham Abbey in Essex: 

 Dr. John Sibthorp found it on the banks of the Isis beyond 

 Ifley, and on peat bogs under Headington Wick copse. See 

 the first species. 



3. CEnanthe Grocata; Hemlock Water Dropwort. All 

 the leaves manyrcleft, blunt, nearly equal; stalks four or five 

 feet high, emitting a yellowish fetid juice when broken. 

 The root divides into four or five large taper ones, which. 



