498 



RDM 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



RUM 



42. Ruellia Fragrans. Leaves sessile, oblong, bluntly ser- 

 rate ; flowers axillary, solitary, sessile. Native of Otaheite. 



43. Ruellia Rupestris. Stemless: leaves petioled, oblong, 

 crenate-waved ; scapes erect, many-flowered. Doubtful 

 whether of this genus. Native of Hispaniola. 



44. Ruellia Hybrida, Plant erect, very branchy; hairs 

 hoary ; leaves subsessile, oblong, subacute on both sides, 

 very rough ; bractes shorter than the calix ; segments of the 

 calix linear, scarcely shorter than the tube of the corolla. 

 Grows in sandy fields near Savannah. 



45. Ruellia Ciliosa. Plant erect, branchy : leaves sub- 

 sessile, ovate-oblong; the nerves and veins ciliated with 

 white hairs; bractes lanceolate, short; segments of the calix 

 subulate, four times shorter than the tube of the corolla. 

 Grows near Savannah, Georgia. 



46. Ruellia Humistrata. Plant somewhat glabrous, dif- 

 fuse, radicant: leaves oval, obtuse; flowers subsessile; cap- 

 sules linear. Grows in Georgia and Florida. 



Ruizia; a genus of the class Monadelphia, order Poly- 

 andria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth double: 

 outer three-leaved; leaflets ovate, concave, acute, deciduous; 

 inner one-leafed, five-parted, permanent; segments lanceolate. 

 Corolla: petals five, sickle-shaped towards the right, rounded 

 at the tip, entire, flat, spreading, fastened to the pitcher of the 

 stamina. Stamina : filamenta many, (from thirty to forty, 

 shorter than the corolla, united below into a pitcher, surround- 

 ing the germen ; antheree oblong, incumbent. Pistil: ger- 

 rnen globular, ten-grooved ; styles ten, short; stigmas simple. 

 Pericarp: capsules ten, compressed, membranaceous, woody 

 on the back, boat-shaped, one-celled, united into a globular 

 umbiUcate whorl. Seeds: two, roundish, three-sided, acumi- 

 nate. Observe. This genus is nearly allied to Assonia. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: double; the exterior 

 three-leaved. Styles: ten. Capsules: ten, one-celled, two- 

 seeded, closely cohering. The species are, 



1. Ruizia Cordata; Heart-leaved Ruizia. With cordate, 

 lanceolate, spreading leaves. This is a branching shrub. 

 Native of the isle of Bourbon, where it flowers in the months 

 of March and April. Flowers sulphur-coloured. 



2. Ruizia Lobata ; Lobated Ruizia. With heart-shaped, 

 five-lobed, crenated leaves. This is a handsome sin ub, with 

 a grayish-white bark, five or six feet high, with spreading 

 and fragile branches, which, when grown very old, almost 

 equal the thickness of a man's thigh. The flowers are sul- 

 phur-coloured, and grow in umbel-like corymbs, like the first 

 species. Native of the isle of Bourbon, where it is found 

 flowering in January, February, and March. 



3. Ruizia Variabilis ; Variable Ruizia. With palmate and 

 digitate leaves. This is a low spreading tree, or shrub; the 

 stems wavy, furrowed, brown ; leaves alternate, stalked, ex- 

 tremely curious for the variety of their shape; flowers in um- 

 bel-like corymbs, of a pale red or crimson colour, with deep 

 red claws. Native of the isle of Bourbon. 



Rumex ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Trigynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth three-leaved; 

 leaflets obtuse, reflex, permanent. Corolla : petals three, 

 ovate, bigger than the calix, and like it, converging, perma- 

 nent. Stamina: filamenta six, capillary, very short; antherse 

 erect, twin. Pistil: germen turbinate, three-sided; styles 

 three, capillary, reflexed, standing out between the clefts of 

 the converging petals ; stigmas large, laciniate. Pericarp : 

 none ; corolla converging, three-sided, enclosing the seed. 

 Seed: single, three-sided. Observe. The twenty-fourth spe- 

 cies excludes one-third part of the number in all parts of the 

 fructificatiop, except the stamina. The thirty-first species, 

 :ind its varieties, have the wale and female flowers on the 



separate plants. The twenty-seventh species has the flowers 

 of both sexes on the same plant, with the female perianths 

 hooked. The twenty-sixth species is polygamous. In some 

 species a callose grain is fastened externally to the valves of 

 the petals. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER.. Calix: three-leaved. 



Petals: three, converging. Seed: one, three-sided. The 



species are, 



* Hermaphrodites; having the Valves marked with a grain. 

 1. Rumex Patientia; Patience Dock, or Rhubarb. Flow- 

 ers hermaphrodite ; valves quite entire, one of them grani- 

 ferous; leaves ovate-lanceolate. Root large, dividing into 

 many thick fibres, which run downwards ; stems from four 

 to six feet high, dividing towards the top into several erect 

 branches, having a few narrow leaves on them ; and termi- 

 nated by spikes of large flowers which appear in June. 

 Native of Italy ; also of Hesse, and some other parts of Ger- 

 many. The herb was formerly used in the kitchen by the 

 name of Patience ; and also in medicine, as the twenty-sixth 

 species: it is now wholly neglected, and very seldom found in 



any gardens. All the Docks rise easily from seeds, and, 



if introduced into a garden, will become troublesome weeds 

 if permitted to scatter ; therefore few persons care to pro- 

 pagate any of them, except for their use in medicine or the 

 kitchen. The seeds should be sown in autumn soon after 

 they are ripe. When the plants come up, thin them and keep 

 them clean. They all delight in a rich moist soil, but being 

 very injurious to agriculture, render it necessary to ascer- 

 tain how they may be most effectually destroyed. Mr. Curtis 

 asserts it to be a false notion, that whilst any part of a Dock 

 remains the plant will grow again ; and therefore insists that 

 the use of the docking-iron is unnecessary, but that frequent 

 mowings effectually destroy it, and that frequent spudding 

 would probably have the same effect, though, unless it be 

 done carefully, and at stated periods, little good is to be 

 expected. It cannot be denied that frequent mowing and 

 spudding may in the end destroy Docks ; at least it will prevent 

 one great evil, by keeping them from seeding; but it appears 

 equally certain that pulling up the young plants by hand after 

 a ground rain, and using the docking-iron for old plants, or 

 those which have been mown or spudded, which will not 

 come up by hand, is a far more effectual remedy. Fallow 

 deer keep down Docks by biting them close to the roots. 

 Mr. Marshall mentions an instance o.f a bed of Docks being 

 destroyed by swine, or by mpwing. The fact was, a large 

 patch of Docks, as thick as they could grow upon the ground, 

 was liable to the swinish bite, (for some hogs will greedily 

 feed on these plants,) and what the swine left was repeatedly 

 mown, perhaps twice or thrice in a summer, for a succes- 

 sion of years, until they wholly vanished, as by a charm, smd 

 were succeeded by a thick sward of the finer Grasses. But 

 perhaps the fact is, (hat neither the swine nor the scythe 

 could be strictly said to have killed these Docks, which 

 evidently died of old age. No vegetable is everlasting, and 

 the age of perennial plants respectively has not been ascer- 

 tained. We may, however, take it for granted, that all plants 

 which propagate their species by seeds alone, may be sub- 

 dued by persevering to prevent their seeding. All that we 

 want to obtain is, their several ages, in order to calculate 

 the difference of expense between heading them from time to 

 time, and destroying them at once by eradication. Docks 

 mature their seeds rapidly and in great abundance, but having 

 no wings to scatter them at a distance, they fall at the foot 

 of the plant. This renders a creeping root unnecessary. 

 Nature's chief care seems to have been to establish the parent 

 plant firmly in the soil, and to guard against its destruction. 

 To this end it is furnished with a very strong tap-root; which, 



