ROT 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



RO X 



487 



spreading, standing out. Pericarp : none. The sinuses of 

 the joints of the spike, closed by the glume of the calix, 

 contain the seed, until the rachis separates in joints. Seed: 

 single, oblong. Hermaphrodites, two-glumed Calix: glume 

 one-flowered, two-valved, transverse; valves cartilaginous, 

 oblong, mucronate, striated; outer a little shorter, with a 

 short dagger-point. Corolla: glume two-valved, transverse; 

 valves lanceolate, membranaceous, shorter than the calix, 

 outer concave, longer, inner with the edges folded together ; 

 nectary as in the other, or two-leaved, with the leaflets lan- 

 ceolate, acuminate. Stamina : filamenta three, capillary ; 

 antheree oblong, bifid at each end. Pistil: germen oblong 

 or ovate; styles two, capillary. Stigmas: oblong, feathered, 

 spreading, standing out. Pericarp: none; calix and corolla 

 cherish the seed, fastened to the rachis, which separates in 

 joints. Seed: single, ovate or oblong. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Rachis: jointed, roundish, in most species filiform. 

 Calix: ovate-lanceolate, flat, one or two valved ; florets alter- 

 nate, on a flexuose rachis. The species are, 



1. Rottboellia Incurvata. Spike round, awl-shaped, curv- 

 ed inwards; calicine glume two-valved, awl-shaped, pressed 

 close. Root annual, fibrous, very much branched, elongated. 

 A small annual grass, flowering in July and August. Native 

 of many parts of Europe, on the sea-coast, and in salt- 

 marshes. In England it occurs near Yarmouth and Shering- 

 ham in Norfolk, Wisbeach in Cambridgeshire, Seaton in 

 Durham, below King's Weston near Bristol, and at Exmouth 

 in Devonshire. 



2. Rottboellia Filiformis. Spike round, awl-shaped, sub- 

 compressed, erect; calicine glume two-valved, ensiform, 

 spreading. This is more slender than the preceding species : 

 it has a purplish stem, and smaller, rougher, channelled leaves. 

 Perennial. Native of the south of Europe. 



3. Rottboellia Cylindrica. Spike round, awl-shaped, erect; 

 calicine glumes one-valved. Perennial. Native of the south 

 of Europe, and of Barbary. 



4. Rottboellia Thomse. Spike solitary, erect, awl-shaped, 

 imbricate two ways ; rachis waved, excavated, but not jointed ; 

 flowers hermaphrodite, disposed alternately on the excava- 

 tions of the rachis. This is the smallest species of the genus, 

 the whole Grass being hardly more than an inch in height. 



Named from its being found at St. Thomas's Mount, on 

 old walls, in Tranquebar. 



5. Rottboellia Repens. Spike round, awl-shaped ; cali- 

 cine glume one-valved, undivided. Native of the South Sea 

 islands within the tropics. 



6. Rottboellia Luevis. Peduncles very long; spikes with 

 flowers in pairs, lateral 1 ; calices ovate, undotted, even. Sent 

 by Koenig from Tranquebar. 



7. Rottboellia Compressa. Spike compressed, awl-shaped; 

 calicine glume lanceolate, flat, undivided ; culms compressed, 

 leafy. Native of both Indies, and China. 



8. Rottboellia Hirsuta. Spike awl-shaped, hirsute; her- 

 maphrodite florets spreading; barren florets pedicelled, 

 pressed close ; culm a foot high or more, striated, alternately 

 excavated at top; flowering branches sometimes several from 



ne joint. Perennial. Native of Egypt. 



9. Rottboellia Cymbachne. Spikes twin, halved ; sheaths 

 the leaves ciliate. This is a slender Grass, a foot high, 



vith several simple or branched stems. Native of Bengal. 



10. Rottboellia Coelorachis. Spike round, one-sided; 

 orets twin, one of them pedicelled; calix two-valved. Na- 

 ve of the Isle of Tanna in the South Seas. 



11. Rottboellia Dimidiata. Spike halved, compressed, 

 linear, outside aggregate, floscular; inner even, naked. A 

 stout, branched, smooth Grass, with very broad obtuse leaves, 



rot. it. 106. 



whose sheaths, like the stem, are very much compressed. 

 Native of sandy soils in the East Indies, the Brasils, and 

 also the Cape. 



12. Rottboellia Exaltata. Spike round, filiform, floscular 

 everyway; glumes ovate-blunt; sheaths dotted and hirsute. 

 Native of the East Indies and Cochin-china. 



13. Rottboellia Corymbosa. Spikes aggregate, lateral, 

 filiform ; florets bifarious, spreading ; leaves ciliate at the 

 base. Native of the coast of Malabar and New Holland. 



14. Rottboellia Muricata. Spikes several, round, on long 

 peduncles ; calices fringed with prickles, the neuters bifid. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



15. Rottboellia Sanguinea. Spikes of the panicles awl- 

 shaped, alternate, simple, peduncled; the lateral bracte of 

 the flowers ciliate. Native of China. 



16. Rottboellia Setacea. Spike solitary, awl-shaped, one- 

 ranked, a little curved inwards ; rachis excavated, but not 

 jointed ; corolla two-valved, membranaceous, hairy. Native 

 of the East Indies, on old walls. 



17. Rottboellia Monandra. Culms erect; flowers distich, 

 in spikes. This is an annual Grass, very common about 

 Madrid, flowering in May. At the top of the stem there is 

 always a solitary flower, which beyond the calicine glume 

 bears another almost opposite to that, and much shorter. 



Roussea ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth four-cleft, 

 smooth ; segments tongue-shaped, acute, reflex. Corolla : 

 bell-shaped, wrinkled on the outside, subpubescent, half 

 four-cleft; segments acute, revolute. Stamina: twice as long 

 as the revolute corolla, and alternate with its segments ; 

 filamenta straight, very wide, a little narrower at the top, 

 smooth; antherae small, sagittate, acute. Pistil: germen 

 superior, quadrangularly pyramidal, smooth ; style the length 

 of the stamina, permanent; stigmas simple, blunt, umbilicate, 

 depressed, smooth. Pericarp: berry quadrangularly pyra- 

 midal, one-celled, with a smooth hard coat. Seeds: very 

 numerous, small, lens-shaped, nestling. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: four-cleft. Corolla: one-petalled, bell- 

 shaped, four-cleft, inferior. Berry: quadrangular, many- 

 seeded. The only species known is, 



1. Roussea Simplex. Leaves opposite, petioled, obov'ate, 

 acute or subacute, toothed, very smooth on both sides, some- 

 what fleshy ; flowers solitary, axillary, on short peduncles, 

 nodding, large, of a very fleshy substance. This is a small 

 shrub, of a fleshy habit, climbing over trees or rocks. 

 Found by Commerson in the Mauritius. 



Roxburghia ; a genus of the class Octandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: inferior, four-leav- 

 ed; leaflets lanceolate, membranaceous, striated, coloured, 

 ruvolute, immediately below the petals. Corolla: petals 

 four, nearly erect, lanceolate, the lower half rather broader 

 than the upper; along the inside runs a deep, sharp, slightly 

 waved keel, forming on each side a deep groove or hollow ; 

 the four keels converge, and in some measure adhere together, 

 thus bringing live side of the petals close, and forming a tube ; 

 the upper part of the petals is narrower, bending out a little, 

 and then their points bend in ; nectary composed of four lan- 

 ceolate yellow bodies, each sessile on the apex of the keel of 

 the parts, converging into one conical body. Stamina: fila- 

 menta none ; antherse eight, linear, lodged in the grooves 

 formed by the keel of the petals, adhering their whole length, 

 but their chief insertion near the base. Pistil: germen 

 superior, heart-shaped; style none ; stigma pointed. Peri- 

 carp: capsule ovate, compressed, one-celled, two-valved, 

 opening from the apex, about an inch and half long, and an 

 inch broad. Seeds: from five to eight, inserted by pedicels 

 Gil 



