OT H 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



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219 



16. Osteospermum Rigidum. Leaves tooth-pinnatifid, 

 hairy ; branches unarmed. Native of the Cape. 



17. Osteospermum Coeruleum ; Blue-flowered Osteosper- 

 mum. Leaves pinnate; pinnas toothed. This is an under- 

 shrub, three feet high, with a strong smell; root woody, 

 branching, fibrous ; stem somewhat woody, erect, round, 

 regularly branched, gray ; flowers terminating, very loosely 

 corymbed, peduncled, erect, blue, an inch wide. Native of 

 the Cape. 



Oswego Tea. See Monarda Didyma. 



Osyris; a genus of the class Dioecia, order Triandria. 

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

 trifid, turbinate ; segments equal, ovate, acute. Corolla : 

 none, except a little nectariferous rim. Stamina : filamenta 

 three, very short; antherse roundish, small. Pistil: an 

 abortive rudiment. Female. Calix: perianth as in the male, 

 superior, permanent, very small. Corolla: none, as in the 

 male. Pistil: germen turbinate, inferior; style the length 

 of the stamina ; stigma three-parted, spreading. Pericarp : 

 berry globular, one-celled, umbilicated. Seeds: bony, glo- 

 bular, filling the pericarp. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. 

 Calix: trifid. Corolla: none. Female. Stigma: roundish. 

 Drupe: one-celled. The species are, 



1. Osyris Alba; Poet's Cassia. Leaves linear. This is a 

 very low shrub, seldom rising above two feet high, having 

 woody branches ; flowers small, of a yellowish-green colour, 

 succeeded by berries, which at first are green, and afterwards 

 turn to a bright red colour, like those of Asparagus. Native 

 of France, Spain, Italy, Carniola, and Mount Libanus. It 

 grows by the side of roads, and between rocks, and is with 

 great difficulty transplanted into gardens, nor does it thrive 

 after being removed ; so that the only method to obtain this 

 plant, is to sow the berries where they are to remain. These 

 berries generally remain a year in the ground before the 

 plants appear, and sometimes they will lie two or three 

 years; so that the ground should not be disturbed under 

 three years, if the plants do not come up sooner. The 

 seeds must be procured from the places where the plants 

 naturally grow, for those which have been brought into 

 gardens never produce any, and it is with great difficulty 

 they are preserved alive. 



2. Osyris Japonica. Leaves ovate, floriferous ; stem shrub- 

 by, tubercled, a fathom high. The leaves are said to be 

 eaten in Japan, where it is a native. 



Othera; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Monogynia. 

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

 manent, four-parted, with ovate segments. Corolla : petals 

 four, ovate, blunt. Stamina : filamenta four, inserted at the 

 very bottom of the petals, shorter by half than the corolla; 

 anther* twin, four-grooved. Pistil : germen superior, smooth ; 

 style none; stigma sessile. Pericarp: capsule? ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Calix: four-parted. Petals: four, ovate, 

 flat. Stigma: sessile. The only known species is, 



I. Othera Japonica. Stem shrubby; branches round, 

 striated, purple ; leaves alternate, ovate, blunt, entire, smooth, 

 coriaceous, spreading, an inch and half long ; petioles semi- 

 cylindric, smooth, a line in length ; flowers axillary, aggre- 

 gate, peduncled, white ; peduncles half a line in length. 

 Native of Japan. 



Othonna; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Polygamia 

 Necessaria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: common, 

 quite simple, one-leafed, blunt at the base, sharp at the end, 

 equal, divided into eight or twelve segments. Corolla: com- 

 pound, rayed ; corollets hermaphrodite, many in the disk ; 

 females in the ray, the same number with the segments of 

 the calix, often eight, some say about ten. Proper of the 

 VOL. II. 84. 



hermaphrodite, tubular, five-toothed, scarcely longer than the 

 calix ; of the female, ligulate, lanceolate, longer than the calix, 

 three-toothed, reflex. Stamina : in the hermaphrodites, fila- 

 menta five, capillary, very short; anthera cylindric, tubular, 

 the length of the corollet. Pistil : in the hermaphrodites, 

 germen oblong; style filiform, commonly longer than the 

 stamina; stigma bifid, simple : in the females, germen oblong; 

 style filiform, the same length as in the others ; stigma reflex, 

 larger. Pericarp : none ; calix unchanged, permanent. 

 Seeds : in the hermaphrodites none ; in the females solitary, 

 oblong, naked, or downy. Receptacle: naked, dotted; 

 according to Gsertner, somewhat villose in the middle, exca- 

 vated about the edge". Observe. In some species the seeds 

 are crowned with a down ; in some the calix is divided 

 beyond the middle ; in others only toothed ; but the figure is 

 the same in all. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: one- 

 leafed, multifid, subcylindrical. Down : almost none. Recep- 

 tacle : naked. The plants of this genus are preserved in the 

 dry-stove, or even in the green-house, without any artificial 

 warmth ; it is sufficient to protect them well from frost ; and 

 in mild weather they must have a large portion of air, but be 

 placed during the summer in a sheltered situation. They 

 may be increased during the summer months by cuttings, 

 planted upon an old hot-bed, and covered with glasses, 

 shading them from the sun in the heat of the day ; when they 

 have taken root, plant each into a separate pot filled with 

 soft loamy earth, and place them in the shade till they have 

 taken new root ; then remove them to a sheltered situation, 

 where they may remain till autumn, treating them in the same 

 way as the old plants. The species are, 



1. Othonna Cacalioides ; Tv.berous Othonna, or African 

 Ragwort. Tuber denudated, finger-lobed, plant-bearing; 

 scapes one-flowered ; leaves obovate, toothletted. Native of 

 the Cape. 



2. Othonna Bulbosa ; Bulbous African Ragwort. Leaves 

 oblong, naked, petioled; stem herbaceous ; peduncles one- 

 flowered, very long : from the centre of the leaves arise the 

 footstalks of the flowers, which are five or six inches long, 

 branching out into several smaller, each sustaining one yellow 

 radiated flower shaped like the former. There are several 

 varieties. It flowers in May and June. Native of the Cape. 



3. Othonna Denticulata; Dentated African Ragwort. 

 Leaves oblong, toothletted, smooth, attenuated at the base, 

 embracing ; flowers panicled. It flowers in April and July. 

 Native of the Cape. 



4. Othonna Tagetes. Leaves linear, pinnate, somewhat 

 toothed; root annual; stem filiform, flexuose. Native of 

 the Cape. 



5. Othonna Trifida. Leaves triftd. linear; flowers lateral, 

 peduncled ; stem shrubby, proliferous, spreading, dusky. 

 Native of the Cape. 



6. Othonna Pectinata; Wormwood-leaved African i'o$- 

 wort. Leaves pinnatifid ; segments linear, parallel. This 

 rises with a shrubby stalk, about the thickness of a man's 

 thumb, two or three feet high, dividing into many branches, 

 covered with a hoary down. Native of the Cape. 



7. Othonna Abrotanifolia ; Southernwood-leaved African. 

 Ragwort. Leaves multifid, pinnate, linear, the joints of the 

 stem villose. This has a low, shrubby, branching stalk : the 

 leaves are thick, like those of Samphire, and are cut into 

 many narrow segments ; the flowers are produced on short 

 peduncles at the ends of the branches; they are yellow, and 

 the seeds are brown. It flowers from January to March. 

 Native of the Cape. 



8. Othonna Athanasiae. Leaves pinnate, filiform; calix 

 hemispherical, twelve-toothed; stem shrubby; flowers rather 



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