RUP 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



RUP 



501 



striated, leafy, from one to two feet high ; clusters compound 

 or aggregate, whorled, reddish ; flowers drooping. The root 

 is astringent; and the whole herb acid, with a considerable 

 degree of pleasant and wholesome astringency. Taken in 

 considerable quantity, it is said to be of important advantage 

 where a refrigerant and antiscorbutic regimen is required. 

 The leaves are eaten in sauces and salads. The Laplanders 

 tise them to turn their milk sour. In France it is cultivated 

 for the use of the table, being introduced into soups, ragouts, 

 fricassees, &c. In some parts of Ireland they eat the leaves 

 plentifully with milk, also with fish a-nd other alkalescent food. 

 The dried root affords a beautiful red colour when boiled. 

 All domestic cattle will eat the plant. It is common in mea- 

 dows and pastures in the greater part of Europe, in almost all 

 soils and situations ; flowering early in June. The variety 

 called Great Mountain Sorrel grows larger, but preserves its 

 difference. It is found upon the Alps, and has been seen in 

 Wale*. It is commonly cultivated in gardens, where, though 

 small in the fields, it will produce fair large flowers. Sow 

 the seeds early in the spring in a shady moist border; and if 

 the plants be afterwards removed into another shady border, 

 at the distance of four or six inches square, they will produce 

 larger leaves, and continue longer. 



32. Rumex Acetosella ; Sheep's Sorrel. Flowers dicecous ; 

 valves grainless; leaves lanceolate, hastate. This is only 

 half the size of the preceding species, more slender in every 

 part, and more of a red or tawny colour; root creeping, peren- 

 nial. Native of Europe, in dry and sandy pastures, banks 

 and fallows, gravel walks, &c. 



33. Rumex Aculeatns ; Prickly Dock, or Candia Sorrel. 

 Flowers monoecious ; fruits reflexed ; valves ciliate ; leaves 

 lanceolate, petioled. Native of Candia. 



34. Rumex Luxurians ; Luxuriant Dock, or Buckwheat- 

 leaved Sorrel. Flowers monoecious ; outer valves awl-shaped ; 

 inner orbicular; leaves cordate-hastate; stem angular, dif- 

 fused. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



35. Rumex Arifolius; H albert-leaved Dock. Flowers 

 dioecous ; all the leaves petioled, hastate, with simple diva- 

 ricate earlets ; stem upright. Native of Africa. It becomes 

 six feet high when cultivated in the open ground. 



3(5. Rumex Bipinnatus ; Bipinnate-leaved Dock. Flowers 

 dioecous; leaves bipinnate. Root perennial; stem ascending, 

 a span long, simple, leafy. Native of Morocco. 



37. Rumex Hostilis. Flowers dioecous ; valves naked ; 

 leaves lanceolate, entire ; stem prickly. Native of Cochin- 

 china ; where it is called Cay died gai. 



Rumphia; a genus of the cliss Triandria, order Monogy- 

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

 trrfid, erect, flat. Corolla : petals three, oblong, obtuse, 

 equal. Stamina : filamenta three, awl-shaped, the length of 

 the corolla; antherse small. Pistil: germen roundish; style 

 awl-shaped, the length of the stamina; stigma three-cornered. 

 Pericarp: drupe coriaceous, turbinate, three-grooved. Seed: 

 nut ovate, entire, three-celled. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: three-cleft. Petals: three. Drupe: coriaceous. Nut: 

 three-celled. The only known species is, 



1. Rumphia Amboinensis. Leaves alternate, petioled, 

 cordate, acute, toothletted, rugged ; flowers white, in axillary 

 clusters. This is a lofty tree, with au ash-coloured bark. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



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

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: none. Corolla: 

 petals four, oblong, narrow at the base, blunt, concave 

 above, convex beneath, deciduous. Stamina : filamenta 

 four, very short, inserted into the petals; antheree oblong, 

 obtuse; when the flower is closed, concealed in the cavity of 



the petal ; when the corolla is expanded, erect. Pistil 

 gerrnen roundish, surrounded at the base with glands; style 

 filiform; stigma subovate. Pericarp: one-celled. Seed* 

 one. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: none. Petals 

 four, cohering at the base. Stamina: inserted iuto the 

 middle of the petals. Pericarp : one-celled, one-seeded 

 The species are, 



1. Rupala Montana. Leaves ovate, petioled: branches 

 round, smooth, with a brown bark, scarred from the fall uf 

 the leaves and peduncles. Native of Cayenne. 



2. Rupala Sessilifolia. Leaves cuneate-oblong, sessile. 

 Native of Cayenne. 



Ruppia ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Tetra- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: spathe besides 

 the sheaths of the leaves, scarcely any ; spadix subulate, 

 quite simple, straight, when the fruit ripens curved inwards, 

 fenced in a double row by the fructifications. Perianth : 

 none. Corolla : none. Stamina : filamenta none ; anther 

 four, sessile, equal, roundish, subdidymous. Pistil : gei - 

 mina four or five, subovate, converging; styl none; stigmas 

 blunt. Pericarp : none. Seeds : four or five, ovate, oblique, 

 each elevated on a long slender stalk, and terminated by a 

 flat orbicular stigma. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 



none. Corolla : none. Seeds : four, pedieelled. The 



species is, 



1. Ruppia Maritima; Sea Ruppia, or Tassel Pondicf<1. 

 Leaves scarcely distich, rather alternate, very long and slen- 

 der, pointed. The spike emerges from the water, and 

 therefore the peduncle or flower-stalk is of very different 

 lengths, according to the depth of the water. Native of 

 several parts of Europe, in salt-water ditches. In Great 

 Britain, it has been found between Maiden and Goldhanger 

 in Essex ; in the isle of Shepey ; near Yarmouth ; near the 

 mouth of the Tees ; in Cornwall ; and in Scotland at Glen 

 Elgin in Inverness-shiie. It flowers in July. 



Rupture Wort. See Herniaria, 



Ruscus; a genus of the class Dicecia, order Syngenesia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix: perianth six- 

 leaved, from erect spreading; leaflets ovate, convex, with 

 the lateral margin reflexed. Corolla : petals none, unless 

 the alternate calix-leaves be called so; nectary central, ovate, 

 the size of the calix, inflated, erect, coloured, perforated at 

 the top. Stamina: filamenta none; antherse three, spread- 

 ing, placed on the top of the nectary, itself united at the 

 base. Female. Calix : perianth as in the male. Corolla : 

 petals as in the male. Nectary as in the male. Pistil: ger- 

 men oblong-ovate, concealed within the nectary ; style cylin- 

 dric, the length of the nectary; stigma obtuse, prominent 

 beyond the mouth of the nectary. Pericarp: berry globular, 

 three-celled. Seeds : two in each cell, globular. Observe. 

 The fifth species has hermaphrodite flowers, in which the 

 calix is globular, with the mouth six-cleft only. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: six-leaved. Corolla: none. Nectary 

 central, ovate, perforated at the top. Female. Style: one. 

 Berry: three-celled. Seeds: two. The species are, 



1. Ruscus Aculeatus; Prickly Butcher's Broom, Knee 

 Holly, Hulm, Holm, or Hulver. Leaves ovate, mucronate, 

 pungent, above floriferous, naked. Roots thick, white, twin- 

 ing about each other, putting out frequent fibres like those of 

 Asparagus, oblique, striking deep in the ground; stem suffru- 

 ticose, tough, stiff, green, round, striated, from eighteen 

 inches to three feet in height, sending out from the side 

 many short stiff branches. The female flowers are suc- 

 ceeded by berries, which are red, bigger than those of Aspa- 

 ragus, and almost as large as some Cherries, of a sweetish 

 taste, having two large orange-coloured seeds in each, gibbous 



