OPH 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



OPH 



195 



none. Corolla: universal none; proper one-petalled, funnel- 

 form; mouth four or five cleft, erect. Stamina: filamenta 

 four, inserted into the receptacle; antherse distinct. Pistil: 

 germen inferior, immersed in the receptacle ; style filiform ; 

 stigma thickish, bifid. Pericarp: none. Seeds: solitary, 

 convex on one side, grooved on the other. Receptacle: com- 

 mon flat above, closing the aperture of the calix below the 

 teeth; below pyramidal, grooved, angular; the angles con- 

 tinued into partitions, by which the cavity of the calix is 

 divided into cells equal to the number of seeds; deciduous. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Flower : compound. Calix : 

 Common: one-leafed, unequally toothed, closed by a common 

 receptacle; flowering above; seeding below; falling when 

 ripe. The species are, 



1. Opercularia Umbellata. Florets in the disk three; co- 

 rollets three-toothed; pericarp none, unless the common calix 

 of the flower be reckoned as such ; it is bell-shaped, cut with 

 seven or nine equal teeth; the seeds are inclosed within the 

 cavity of it, equal in number to the corollets. Stem round, 

 hairy, with opposite branches. Native of New Holland. 



2. Opercularia Aspera. Corollets four or six ; border 

 four or five parted ; stamina four or five, inserted into the 

 receptacle, not the corolla; antherae separate. Stem up- 

 right, forked, round, smooth. Native of New Zealand. 



3. Opercularia Diphylla. Common calices hispid; heads 

 as in the preceding, but little more than half the size. Native 

 of New Zealand. 



Ophioglossum ; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order 

 Filices. GENERIC CHARACTER. Capsules: numerous, con- 

 nected by a membrane into a distich spike, subglobular ; when 

 ripe opening transversely, without any elastic ring. Seeds: 

 very many, extremely minute. Observe. The seventh species, 

 and probably those species which are nearly allied to it, with 

 a twining stem, recede in some degree from the common sort, 



and those which resemble it in the fructification. The 



species are, 



1. Ophioglossum Vulgatum ; Common Adder's Tongue. 

 Frond ovate, veinless, bearing the spike ; root fibrous ; stem 

 single, round, very smooth, upright, simple, or unbranched, 

 from a hand or a -finger's length, to a span or more in height; 

 terminated by a distich, jointed, tongue-shaped, greenish 

 spike, brown when ripe; bearing one ovate leaf, an inch and 

 half long. The spike consists of numerous capsules, full of 

 minute chaffy seeds. The expressed juice of this plant is 

 frequently made use of by country people, for internal 

 wounds, bruises, and spitting of blood, with good success. 

 The leaves bruised and boiled in a sufficient quantity of 

 hog's lard, until they become crisp, and then strained, afford 

 an excellent cooling ointment for green wounds, which is a 

 very ancient recipe for that purpose. Native of moist mea- 

 dows and pastures in Europe, and of most parts of Great 

 Britain, producing its spike in May. 



2. Ophioglossum Nudicaule ; Naked Adder's Tongue. 

 Fronds ovate; scape leafless. This is a very small plant, 

 not an inch high ; root bundled, filiform ; leaves few, radical, 

 petioled, quite entire. Native of the Cape. 



3. Ophioglossum Lusitanicum ; Portuguese Adder's Tongue. 

 Frond lanceolate; herb annual, stemless, two inches high, 

 erect; leaf single, petioled, acute, quite entire, smooth, the 

 length three times as great as the breadth. Native of Por- 

 tugal, China, and Cochin-china. 



4. Ophioglossum Reticulatum; Netted Adder's Tongue. 

 Frond cordate. This plant generally rises to the height of 

 five or six inches above the root. Native of Jamaica, and 

 the continent of South America. 



5. Ophioglossum Palmatum ; Palmate-leaved Adder's 

 82. 



Tongue. Frond palmate, erect, two feet high, with the spike 

 at the base. This is the largest of the species. Native of 

 South America. 



6. Ophioglossum Pendulum; Pendidous Adder's Tongue. 

 Fronds linear, very long, undivided. This is a parasite, 

 hanging down from the branches of old trees. Native of 

 the East Indies. 



7. Ophioglossum Scandens; Climbing Adder's Tongue. 

 Stem flexuose, round; fronds conjugate, pinnate; leaflets 

 spike-bearing on both sides. This rises to a considerable 

 height on trees. It is found every where within the tropics. 

 Native of both Indies, China, and Cochin-china. 



8. Ophioglossum Flexuosum ; }Vinding-stalked Adder's 

 Tongue. Scape flexuose, round; fronds opposite, petioled, 

 palmate; pinnas lanceolate, quite entire, smooth. This is 

 very nearly allied to the preceding; fronds remote on the 

 stem, three or four lobed. Native of the East Indies. 



9. Ophioglossum Japonicum; Japanese Adder's Tongue. 

 Stem flexuose, angular; fronds superdecompound ; pinnules 

 alternate, gashed. Native of Japan. 



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

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, erect, compressed, five-toothed, equal, permanent. 

 Corolla: one-petalled, funnel-form; tube inflated at the base; 

 throat almost closed with hairs; border five-cleft, blunt, 

 spreading. Stamina: filamenta five, filiform, very short, .in- 

 serted into the tube; antherse oblong, the length of the 

 tube. Pistil : germen bifid, superior ; style filiform, the 

 length of the stamina, thicker above; stigmas two, blunt. 

 Pericarp : capsule two-lobed, wide, bluntish ; lobes oblong, 

 divaricated, two-celled, opening inwards, with a contrary 

 partition. Seeds: numerous, angular, fixed all round to an 

 oblong stalked receptacle, loose in the middle of each 

 cell. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla : funnel-form. 



Germen: bifid. Stigmas: two. Fruit: two-lobed.- The 



species are, . ) 



1. Ophiorhiza Mungos. Leaves lanceolate-ovate; stem 

 simple; flowers sessile from the upper side of the horizontal 

 spike. The Ceylonese call this plant E'tawerya, and Nagha- 

 walli, from Nagha, the ribband-snake ; for the bite of which, 

 the leaves of this plant are accounted a specific. Native of 

 the East Indies. 



2. Ophiorhiza Mitreola. Leaves ovate; roots from the 

 lower joints of the stem, in bundles, long, filiform, white; stem 

 herbaceous, a foot high, simple, or branched, erect, four- 

 cornered at bottom, towards the upper part roundish, rather 

 weak. Native of America, in Virginia; and of wet meadows 

 near rivers, in Jamaica. 



3. Ophiorhiza Subumbellata. Stem shrubby; leaves lan- 

 ceolate, acute; umbels axillary, trifid. Native of the island 

 of Otaheite, in the South Seas. 



Ophioxylum; a genus of the class Polygamia, order Mo- 

 noecia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Hermaphrodite flowers. 

 Calix: perianth five-cleft, acute, erect, very small. Corolla : 

 one-petalled, funnel-form; tube long, filiform, thickened in 

 Ihe middle; border five-parted, spreading a little, without a 

 nectary. Stamina: filamenta five, very short, in the middle 

 of the tube; antherae acuminate. Pistil: germen superior, 

 roundish; style filiform, the length of the stamina; stigma 

 capitate. Pericarp; berry twin, two-celled. Seeds: solitary, 

 roundish." Male flowers, on the same plant. Calix: as in 

 the hermaphrodites ; Linneus and Gsertner say, bifid. Co- 

 rolla: one-petalled, funnel-form ; tube long; border five-cleft; 

 nectary in the mouth of the corolla, cylindric, quite entire. 

 Stamina: filamenta two, very short; antherae acuminate, con- 

 verging within the nectary. ESSENTIAL CHARACTIK. 

 3 D 



