RIC 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



RIT 



475 



rates in two or three hours, seldom gripes, and is generally 

 moderate in its operation. It is particularly suited to cases 

 of costiveness, and even of spasmodic colic ; and is one of 

 the most certain remedies in the dry belly-ache. It has 

 been found efficacious in various febrile complaints, in bilious 

 colics, nephritic cases, worms, and especially the tape-worm. 

 As it does not heat nor irritate the rectum, it is an excellent 

 purgative for those who are troubled with the piles. The 

 only inconvenience attending this medicine is, that it is nau- 

 seous to those who dislike oil, and that when the dose is 

 large it occasions sickness at the stomach. The most ready 

 means of obviating these objections is, to take it in as much 

 ardent spirit as will enable the patient to swallow it at once 

 without tasting it, while it floats in the glass entirely sur- 

 rounded by the spirituous liquor. Whenever there is reason 

 to suspect a tendency to inflammation in the bowels, water 

 will serve the same purpose equally as well ; and in both 

 cases it will be found the best way to take this medicine. 

 In the West Indies they use their staple rum for this same 

 purpose; but when spirits are to be employed, as in spasmodic 

 colics, tincture of senna is better, being less irritating ; and 

 when mixed intimately by being shaken together in a phial, in 

 the proportion of one part of the senna to three of the oil, 

 the latter will sit more pleasantly on the stomach. The com- 

 mon dose is a table-spoonful, or half an ounce, but many 

 persons require a double quantity. It is remarkable, that 

 if this medicine be frequently repeated, the dose may be 

 gradually diminished; insomuch that persons of a costive 

 habit, who at first required half an ounce or more for a dose, 

 have afterwards found two drachms enough, at least sufficient 

 to keep the body regular. Propa.ga.tiom and Culture. These 

 plants are generally annuals in England, though in their 

 native places of growth they continue longer, and are often 

 preserved through the winter in this country; though young 

 plants are much preferable to those thus preserved. On this 

 account few persons are at the trouble to keep them, unless 

 when the seasons prove so bad as that their seeds do not 

 ripen, whereby the species might be lost, if the plants were 

 not preserved through the winter. They are propagated by 

 seeds, which must be sown upon a hot-bed in the spring, 

 and when the plants are come up they should be each planted 

 into a separate pot filled with light fresh earth, and plunged 

 into a fresh hot-bed, observing to water and shade them until 

 they have taken root; after which they must have a great 

 share of free air when the season is mild, otherwise they 

 will draw up tall and weak : and as these plants grow 

 very fast, their roots will in a short time fill the pots ; they 

 should then of course be shifted into larger pots filled with 

 the like fresh earth, and towards the end of May, when the 

 season is warm, they may be hardened to endure the open 

 air by degrees; and then, if some of the plants are shaken out 

 of the pots, and planted out into a very rich border, and in 

 dry weather duly watered, they will grow to a very large 

 size, and produce a great quantity of flowers and seeds: but 

 if it be intended to preserve any of the plants through the 

 winter, they must not be planted in the full ground, because 

 after the roots have been widely extended, there will be no 

 transplanting them with safety ; therefore the best way is to 

 shift them into larger pots from time to time, as their roots 

 shall require, placing them in the open air during the summer 

 season in some warm situation, where they may remain until 

 October, when they must be removed into the green-house 

 with other exotic plants, observing to water them sparingly 

 in winter, and also to admit the free air in mild weather; for 



hey only require to be protected from frost and cold winds. 



These plants deserve a place in every curious garden., for the 

 VOL. ii. 105. 



singular beauty of their leaves, (although their flowers make 

 no great appearance;) and those persons who have no green- 

 house to place them into in winter, may cultivate them as 

 other annual plants, amongst which these being placed either 

 in pots or on borders, afford an agreeable variety; but as 

 these are large-growing plants, never place them too near 

 others of less growth, because they will overbear and destroy 

 them; and those which are planted in pots should bealloweu 

 room for their roots to spread, and must be frequently watered, 

 otherwise they will not grow very large. 



3. Ricinus Tanarius. Leaves peltate-repand. This is a 

 middle-sized tree, with twisting spreading branches. Native 

 of the East Indies. 



4. Ricinus Mappa. Leaves peltate, undivided. Native of 

 Ternate, the Molucca Islands, and Tanna in the South Seas. 



5. Ricinus Apetala. Leaves petioled at the base, conical, 

 quite entire. This is a shrub, four feet high, and very much 

 branched. Native of China. 



6. Ricinus Dioicus. Leave cordate, acuminate ; flowers 

 dioecous; capsules muricated. A shrub, with round, smooth, 

 browp branches. Native of Tanna. 



Ricotia; a genus of the class Tetradynamia, order Sili- 

 quosa. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth four- 

 leaved ; leaflets oblong, parallel, approximating, deciduous. 

 Corolla : four^petalled, cruciform ; petals obcordate, spread- 

 ing. Stamina: filamenta six, four the length of the tube, two 

 opposite a little shorter ; antheree oblong, acute. Pistil .- 

 germen cylindrical, the length of the stamina ; style scarcely 

 any ; stigma acute. Pericarp : silique lanceolate, ovate, 

 one-celled, two-valved; valves flat. Seeds: about four, orbi- 

 cular, compressed. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Silique : 



one-celled, oblong, compressed, with flat valves. The 



only known species is, 



1. Ricotia jEgyptiaca. An annual plant, with a stem about 

 a foot high, smooth and branching ; flowers purple, on long 

 stalks ; pods drooping. Native of Egypt. 



Rittera; (see Swartzia) a genus of the class Polyandria; 

 order Monogynia. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: four- 

 leaved. Petal: one, lateral. Legume: one-celled, two- 

 valved. The species are, 



1. Rittera Simplex. Leaves simple; petal roundish, obo- 

 vate, larger than the calix, m.ny-stamined. Native of the 

 Caribbee Islands. 



2. Rittera Grandiflora. Leaves simple, oblong, ovate; 

 peduncles subtriflorous ; petal roundish, kidney-form, very 

 large; legumes oblong. This is a middle-sized tree, with 

 round, smooth, subdichotomous branches, of a brown colour, 

 except the younger ones, which are green, Native of the 

 island of Trinidad. 



. 3. Rittera Dodecandra. Leaves simple ; petal oblong, the 

 length of the calix; flowers twelve-stamined. This is ten- 

 derer and smaller in all its parts than the first species. 

 Native of South America. 



4. Rittera Triphylla. Leaves ternate; petioles margined. 

 This is a middle-sized tree, with a trunk from seven to eight 

 feet in height, and seven or eight inches in diameter, with a 

 smooth thin gray bark, and a yellowish hard compact wood. 

 The seeds, one to four in number, have a very disagreeable 

 taste, and are very acrid, inflaming and swelling the lips 

 of those who bite them. Native of the forests of Guiana, 

 near the source of the creek of the Galibis ; flowering and 

 fruiting in the month of May. The French call it Bois dard 

 or Bois a fleche, because the natives arm their arrows at the 

 point with a piece of the wood cut very sharp. 



5. Rittera Pinnata. Leaves pinnate; branches round, 

 smooth. Native of the island of Trinidad. 



6E 



