444 



QTJI 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL { 



QUI 



filamenta five, very short, inserted into the top of the tube ; 

 antherae oblong, the length of the limb. Pistil: germen 

 roundish; style thread-shaped, the length of the tube ; stigma 

 capitate. Pericarp: berry roundish. Seed: solitary. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: in four unequal segments, 

 superior. Corolla: funnel-shaped, five-cleft. Stigma : capi- 

 tate, undivided. Berry : dry. The only known species is, 



1. Quinchamala Chiliensis. Root annual, composed of a 

 few simple yellow fibres; stems several, prostrate, simple, 

 round, leafy, four to six inches long ; leaves alternate, linear, 

 acute, quite entire ; flowers corymbed. The Indians take a 

 decoction of this plant for internal disorders. Native of Chili. 



Quisqualis; a genus of the class Decandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth filiform, 

 very long, tubular, with a five-cleft patulous mouth, deoi- 



duous. Corolla: petals five, inserted into the jaws of the 

 calix, sessile, oblong, blunt, spreading, larger than the border 

 of the calix. Stamina: filamenta ten, bristle-shaped, inserted 

 into the jaws of the calix, five of them lower ; antheree oblong, 

 in the jaws of the calix. Pistil: germen ovate ; style filiform, 

 longer than the stamina ; stigma obtuse, wider. Pericarp : 

 drupe dry, five-cornered. Seed: nut roundish. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: five-cleft, filiform. Petals: five. 



Drupe: five-cornered. The single species known is, 



1. Quisqualis Indica. Leaves opposite, petioled, cordate 

 or ovate, quite entire; branches round, pubescent. Loureiro 

 describes it as a large unarmed shrub, with a thick, almost 

 upright stem, and climbing branches; the flowers white, 

 tinged with red, in terminating corymbs. Native of the East 

 Indies, China, and Cochin-china. 



RAN 



RADISH. See Raphanus. 



Radish, Horse. See Cochlearia. 



Ragged Robin. See Lychnis. 



Ragwort, See Othonna, Senecio, and Solidago. 



Rajania ; a genus of the class Dioecia, order Hexandria. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix .- perianth six-parted, 

 bell-shaped; leaflets oblong, acuminate, more spreading 

 above. Corolla: none. Stamina: filamenta six, bristle- 

 shaped, shorter than the calix ; antherse simple. Female. 

 Calix : perianth one-leafed, six-parted, bell-shaped, perma- 

 nent, shrivelling. Corolla: none. Pistil: germen inferior, 

 compressed, one side augmented with a prominent rim, three- 

 celled ; styles three, the length of the calix ; stigmas blunt. 

 Pericarp : capsules membranaceous, three-celled, valveless, 

 crowned with the calix ; two of the cells barren, almost obli- 

 terated, wingless; the third fertile, compressed, extended 

 into a very 1 large, half-ovate, membranaceous, wing. Seed : 

 single, subelliptic, compressed. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix : six-parted. Corolla: none. Female. Styles: three. 

 Germen: inferior, three-celled, with two of the cells oblite- 

 rated. Capsule: membraneous, with one wing. Seed: soli- 

 tary. The species are, 



1. Rajania Hastata. Leaves hastate, cordate. Root large 

 and ovate, sometimes four or five inches long, and two thick, 

 rounded at each end, the flesh very white, tasting like a bean ; 

 stem long, slender, knotty, climbing ; leaves scattered, about 

 three rhches long ; flowers small, whitish, in simple, axillary, 

 drooping clusters. Native of St. Domingo. 



2. Rajania Cordata. Leaves cordate, seven-nerved. 

 Native of South America. 



3. Rajania Angustifolia. Leaves linear-lanceolate, rounded 

 at the base, three-ribbed. It flowers in May, and seeds in 

 June. An annual plant, and is found in the driest coppices 

 of Hispaniola, on the western coast, climbing up the tall trees. 



4. Rajania Ovata. Leaves ovate-acuminate, three-nerved. 

 Native of Hisp aniola. 



5. Rajania Quinquefolia. Leaves in fives, ovate-oblong ; 

 clusters lateral, between the joints. Native of the W. Indies. 



6. Rajania Quinata. Leaves quinate; leaflets emarginate; 

 flowers umbelled, axillary. Native of Japan. 



7. Rajania Hexaphyll a. Leaves serrate; leaflets oblong, 

 acute ; flowers in racemes, snow-white. Native of Japan. 



Rampions. See Campanula. 

 Ramsois. See Allium. 



Ranunculus ; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Poly- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five-leaved; 



RAN 



leaflets ovate, concave, coloured, a little deciduous. Corolla: 

 petals five, blunt, shining, with small claws ; nectary a little 

 cavity just above the claw, in each petal. Stamina: fila- 

 menta very many, shorter by half than the corolla ; antheree 

 oblong, blunt, twin. Pistil: germina numerous, collected 

 into a head ; styles none ; stigmas reflex, very small. .Peri- 

 carp : none ; receptacle collecting the seeds by very minute 

 peduncles. Seeds : very many, irregular, varying in figure, 

 naked, with a reflex point. Observe. The essence of this 

 genus consists in the nectary ; the other parts of the fructifi- 

 cation are always inconstant. This nectary is in some species 

 a naked pore ; in others, encompassed by a cylindrical border; 

 and in others, again, closed by an emarginate scale. The 

 ninth species has a three-leaved calix, and more than five 

 petals. The sixteenth has an awl-shaped receptacle, and 

 the fruit in a spike. The forty-third has an ensiform tail to 

 the seeds, and the calix appendicled at the base. The forty- 

 fourth has only five stamina. In some species the seeds are 

 roundish, in others depressed ; sometimes they are beset with 

 prickles like a hedge-hog, and sometimes they are but few 

 in number. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-leaved. 

 Petals : five to eight, with a honied pore at the claw. Seeds : 



naked. The species are, 



* With simple Leaves, and undivided. 

 1. Ranunculus Flammula; Lesser Spearwort. Leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate, bluntish, petioled; stem declined. Root 

 perennial, composed of simple, very long, and rather large 

 fibres. This species varies wonderfully in magnitude, and 

 in gravelly soils degenerates to a trailing dwarfish size, with 

 linear leaves. Flowers numerous, solitary, on long stalks, of 

 a bright golden yellow. The plant is very acrid ; and when 

 externally applied, inflames and blisters the skin. Its acri- 

 mony rises in distillation. Many years ago, a man travelled 

 in different parts of England, administering vomits, which, like 

 wViite vitriol, operated the instant they were swallowed. The 

 distilled water of this plant was his medicine ; and Dr. Wither- 

 ing declares, from the experience he himself had of it, that 

 in case of poison being swallowed, or other circumstances 

 occurring in which it is desirable to make the patient instantly 

 vomit, that he found it preferable to any other medicine yet 

 known, as it did not excite those painful contractions which 

 sometimes attend the white vitriol, and defeat the" intention 

 for which it was given. It is used, in many parts of the 

 Highlands of Scotland, to raise blisters ; for this purpose 

 the leaves are well bruised in a mortar, and applied in one or 

 more limpet shells, to the part where the blisters are to be 





