476 



R IV 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



ROB 



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

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth four-leaved, 

 coloured, permanent; leaflets oblong-ovate, bluut. Corolla: 

 none, unless the calix be taken for it. Stamina: filamenta 

 four or eight, shorter than the calix, approaching by pairs, 

 permanent; antheree small. Pistil: germen large, roundish; 

 style very short; stigma simple, blunt. Pericarp: berry 

 globular, placed on the green reflex calix, one-celled, with a 

 point curved in. Seed: one, roundish, lens-shaped, rugged. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: four-leaved, coloured, per- 

 manent. Corolla : none. Berry : containing one lens-shaped 

 seed. The species are, 



1. Rivina Humilis; Downy Rivina. Racemes simple; 

 flowers four-stamined ; leaves pubescent. Stem bushy, 

 shrubby, three or four feet high. It flowers most part of the 

 year in our stoves, decorated with clusters of little scarlet 

 berries, which make the chief beauty of the plant. Native 

 of the West Indies. This, and all the shrubs of this genus, 

 are propagated by seeds, which remain long in the ground 

 before they vegetate : they never rise the same year they 

 are sown. They must be procured from the countries where 

 they naturally grow, and, when they arrive, should be 

 sown in pots filled with fresh earth, and plunged into a 

 moderate hot-bed. If this happens late in the autumn or 

 the winter, the pots must be plunged into the tan-bed of the 

 stove ; but if in the spring, they may be plunged into a com- 

 mon hot-bed under a frame. The earth must be moistened 

 frequently in summer, to promote the vegetation of the seeds ; 

 but as they will not come up the same year, the pots should 

 be Removed into the stove before winter, and plunged into 

 the' tan-bed. In winter they may be sometimes, yet but 

 slightly, watered. In the spring take the pots out of the 

 stove, and plunge them into a fresh hot-bed to bring up the 

 plants ; but if they should not then rise, the earth must not 

 be disturbed, because the plants may come up in the follow- 

 ing season. When they have risen two inches out of (*he 

 ground, transplant each of them into a separate small pot 

 filled with light loamy earth, arid plunge these pots into a 

 hot-bed, shading them from the sun till they have taken new 

 root; after which, they must be treated in the same way as 

 other plants from the same countries. These plants being 

 tender, cannot be preserved in this country unless they are 

 kept in a warm stove, especially while they are young;; but 

 when they have obtained strength, they will live in a mode- 

 rate warmth during winter, and in summer they may be 

 removed into the open air, placing them in a sheltered situ- 

 ation for about three months of the hottest part of the 

 summer. Water them very cautiously in winter, for as they 

 are natives of a dry soil, much moisture would destroy them 

 in cold weather. 



2. Rivina Lsevis ; Smooth Rivina. Racemes simple; 

 flowers four-stamined ; leaves ovate, acuminate, smooth, 

 flat; stem round. This very much resembles the preced- 

 ing, but is wholly smooth. The leaves are purplish about 

 the edge, and the flowers are red on the outside. Native of 

 the West Indies. See the preceding; species. 



3. Rivina Brasiliensis ; Wave-leaved Rivina. Racemes 

 simple; flowers four-stamined; leaves ovate, waved, and 

 wrinkled; stem grooved. Stem shrubby; flowers white or 

 reddish ; berry round, of a shining red. It blossoms in the 

 stovu in June and July. Native of Brazil. 



4. Rivina Octandra; Climbing Riviiut. Racemes simple; 

 flowers eight-stamincd or twelve-stamined ; loaves elliptic, 

 smooth. This rises with a climbing woody stalk to the 

 height of twenty f'eet, covered with a dark gray bark. The 

 liorries, which are blue, form, according to Browne, the prin- 



cipal part of the food of the American Thrush or Nightin- 

 gale : they contain a very oily seed ; and after the bird has 

 swallowed of them, he is frequently observed to perch upon 

 the next Bird-Pepper Bush, (see Capsicum,) and pick a few 

 of those warm berries ; being taught by natural instinct, that 

 they were necessary to assist the digestion of the former 

 heavy and oleaginous food. The stalk of this plant is so 

 very tough and flexile, and it is often made into hoops in 

 Jamaica, when there is a scarcity of those imported from 

 Europe or North America, but they are not so strong and 

 durable ; hence in Jamaica it is called Hoopwithe. Native 

 of the West Indies ; found also at the Havannah. See the 

 first species, 



Rivularia. See Conferva and Ulva. 



Robcrgia ; a genus of the class Decandria, order Penta 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, five-parted, permanent; segments roundish, concave. 

 Corolla : petals five, roundish, the length of the calix. 

 Stamina : filamenta ten, inserted into the receptacle, the 

 length of the corolla; antheree roundish. Pistil: germen 

 roundish, villose, superior; styles five, capillary; stigmas 

 thickish, grooved. jPericarp : drupe ovate, more convex on 

 one side, very slightly hollowed on the other. Seeds: nut 

 the form of the drupe, one-celled, with a two-valved shell. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : five-parted. Petals: five. 



Drupe: with a one-seeded nut, and a two-valved shell. 



The only known species is, 



1. Robergia Frutescens. Stem shrubby, supporting itself 

 by the neighbouring trees ; leaves alternate, unequally pin- 

 nate, four-paired ; flowers in axillary branched panicles, white, 

 with a smell sweeter than those of the Lilac. Native of the 

 woods of Guiana, flowering and fruiting in August. 



Robinia; a genus of the class Diadelphia, order Decan- 

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

 small, bell-shaped, four-cleft; the three lower toothlets more 

 slender, the upper one wider, scarcely emarginate to the 

 naked eye, all equal in length. Corolla: papilionaceous; 

 standard roundish, larger, spreading, blunt; wings oblong- 

 ovate, free, with a very short blunt appendix" keel almost 

 semiorbicular, compressed, blunt, the length of the wings. 

 Stamina: filamenta diadelphous, one simple, the other nine 

 combined,) ascending at top; antherae roundish. Pistil: 

 germen cylindrical, oblong; style filiform, bent upwards; 

 stigma villose in front, at the top of the style. Pericarp: 

 legume large, compressed, gibbous, oblong. Seeds: few, 

 kidney-form. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: four-cleft, 

 the upper segment divided. Stamina: in two distinct sets. 

 Legume : gibbous, elongated. The species are, 



1. Robinia Pseud-Acacia; False or Common Acacia. R"a- 

 cemes with pedicels one-flowered; leaves unequally pinnate; 

 stipules thorny; legumes smooth, compressed. This tree 

 grows very fast while young, so that in a few years the plants 

 rise from seeds to eight or ten feet high; and it is not uncom- 

 mon to see shoots six or eight feet long produced in one sum- 

 mer. The branches are armed with strong crooked thorns. 

 The flowers come out from the side of the branches in pretty 

 long bunches, hanging down like those of Laburnum; each 

 flower on a slender pedicel, white, and smelling very sweet : 

 they appear in June, and, when the trees are full of flowers, 

 make a beautiful appearance, besides perfuming the air all 

 round; but they seldom continue more than one week. Even 

 'mid it is a very beautiful tree, whether it feathers to 

 the ground, or is adorned with a light foliage; the misfortune 

 however is, that its beauty is so frail, it being most unable of 

 all trees to bear the blast. Native of North America, where 

 it grows to a very large size, and the wood is much valued 



