644 



TAG 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



TAG 



Leaves lanceolate-elliptic, acuminate, smooth ; umbels axil- 

 lary, subsessile, three or four flowered; branches dichoto- 

 mous, round, smooth. Native of Surinam. 



17. Taberneemontana Alba ; White-flowered Taberncemon- 

 tana. Leaves oblong, ovate, acuminate, opposite ; flowers 

 eorymbed, terminating. They come out in pretty large 

 roundish bunches at the ends of the branches, are white, and 

 emit an agreeable odour. Found growing at Vera Cruz. 



18. Tabernsemontana Bufalina. Leaves lanceolate, oppo- 

 site; peduncles in pairs, one-flowered, pendulous. This is 

 a shrub five feet high, almost upright, branched. Native of 

 Cochin-china. 



19. Tabernoemontana Bovina. Leaves lanceolate, opposite; 

 peduncles solitary, many-flowered. This shrub is upright, 

 four feet high, with reclining branches. Native of Cochin- 

 china, where it is esteemed emollient; the milky viscid juice 

 is reputed excellent for assisting in the extraction of darts or 

 thorns. 



Tacca; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leafed, 

 superior, permanent, six-parted ; segments oblong, converg- 

 ing. Corolla : petals six, inserted into the base of the cali- 

 cine segments; helmet arched, the lip of the helmet emargi- 

 nate, two-lobed. Stamina : filamenta scarcely any; antberse 

 six, oblong, fastened within to the arch of the petals, tending 

 downwards at the tip. Pistil : germen inferior, roundish ; 

 style short, straight, thick; stigma orbicular, stellate; rays 

 six, bluntish, convex above. Pericarp: berry dry, subglobu- 

 lar, six-ribbed, hexangular, one-celled, crowned with the calix. 

 Seeds: very many, ovate, somewhat angular, striated, fastened 

 all round to the coat of the berry. Observe. Are not the 

 petals rather to be denominated filamenta? Solander thought 

 they might. The berry, before it is ripe, is three-celled; but 

 when ripe, the pulp is so dried up, that the cells cannot be 

 distinguished. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: six-parted. 

 Corolla : six-petalled, inserted into the calix, anther-bearing. 

 Stigma: stellate. Berry: dry, hexangular, many-seeded, in- 

 ferior. The only known species is, 



1. Tacca Pinnatifida. Root composed of many tubers 

 heaped together here and there, emitting fibres ; leaves pin- 

 natifid. Native of the East Indies, China, Cochin-china, 

 Banda, and the Society Isles. The root is red, the size of a 

 man's fist, and roundish. In its natural state it is one of the 

 most bitter and acrid, but loses something of these qualities 

 by culture. In its raw state it is rasped, and washed fre- 

 quently in water, when a white meal-like starch falls to the 

 bottom: this is again washed, until no more acrimony can be 

 perceived in the water. The meal is then dried in the sun. 

 The first infusions are carefully thrown away, being looked 

 upon as noxious, and even deadly. In Otaheite, and the other 

 Society islands, they make of this meal a tasteful, nourishing, 

 gelatinous cake, like Salep. In Banda, where Sago-bread is 

 not common, they use this as a succedaneum, and it is even 

 preferable to the other. They also apply it as a plaster to 

 deep wounds. The petioles and stalk, when boiled a long 

 time, lose their acrimony, and are rendered fit for food, as 

 well as the roots, in China and Cochin-china. 



Tagetes ; a genus of the class Syngenesis, or Polygamia- 

 Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: common quite 

 simple, one-leafed, tubular, oblong, five-cornered, five-toothed. 

 Corolla : compound radiate ; corollets hermaphrodite, tubu- 

 lar, many, on an elevated disk ; females ligular, five in the 

 ray : proper in the hermaphrodites, tubular, half five-cleft, 

 erect, longer than the calix; segments linear, inwardly villose: 

 in the females, ligular, longer than in the hermaphrodites, 

 almost equal in length and breadth, very blunt, narrower 



towards the tube, tomentose, permanent. Stamina : in the 

 hermaphrodites, filamenta five, capillary, very short; antheree 

 cylindrical, tubular. Pistil : in the hermaphrodites, germen 

 oblong; style filiform, length of the stamina; stigma bifid, 

 slender, reflexed : in the females, germen oblong; style 

 filiform, length of the hermaphrodite ; stigma bifid, slender, 

 reflexed. Pericarp : none ; calix unchanged. Seeds: in the 

 hermaphrodites, solitary, linear, compressed, a little shorter 

 than the calix; down with five erect acuminate unequal 

 chaffs: in the females, like the others. Receptacle: naked, 

 small, flat. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: one-leafed, 

 five-toothed, tubular. Florets of the ray: five, permanent. 



Down: with firm erect chaff's. Receptacle: naked. The 



species are, 



1. Tagetes Patula ; French Marygold. Stem spreading; 

 leaves pinnate ; leaflets lanceolate, with hair-pointed serra- 

 tures; stalks single-flowered, somewhat swelling upwards. 

 The stem subdivided, patulous, a foot and half high, almost 

 upright, smooth, diffused; flowers solitary, terminating, gold- 

 coloured, on a long upright peduncle. There are many varie- 

 ties of this species, differing in size, and still more in colour, 

 some beautifully variegated, and others quite plain. Dillenius 

 describes one with oblong red spots dividing the orange; and 

 Curtis, another which is gold-coloured with red stripes. The 

 latter remarks, that the seed of the common small sort has a 

 strong disagreeable smell, and is of a more humble growth, 

 with more spreading branches and smaller flowers, that have 

 usually a larger proportion of yellow: the larger one, com- 

 monly called the Sweet-scented, with the flowers bigger, and 

 having a variety of rich tints, has a less disagreeable smell, 

 though even it cannot be called sweet. From the seeds of 

 both varieties some rise extremely double, and others single. 

 It flowers from the beginning of July till the frost sets in, and 

 is supposed to have been imported from Africa, where it is 

 said to grow spontaneously, into Europe. This, and the next 

 species, being annuals, must be propagated from seeds every 

 spring. The seeds may be sown upon a moderate hot-bed in 

 the beginning of April. When the plants appear, admit plenty 

 of fresh air, to prevent their being overdrawn, which destroys 

 their beauty. When they are about three inches high, they 

 should be transplanted on a very moderate hot-bed, which 

 may be arched over with hoops, and covered with mats, for 

 these plants are hardy enough to be reared without glasses : 

 in this bed they should be planted about six inches asunder 

 each way, observing to water and shade them until they have 

 taken root; but as they acquire strength, let them be inured 

 to bear the open air by degrees, and about the beginning of 

 May they should be taken up with a ball of earth to the root 

 of each plant, and planted into the borders of the paterre 

 garden, or into pots for furnishing the courts, shading them 

 carefully from the sun till they have taken new root, and 

 also supplying them duly with water. When their flowers 

 appear, if any prove single, the plants should be destroyed ; 

 and then those in pots may be removed to the court, where 

 the several varieties, being intermixed with other annual 

 plants, afford an agreeable variety. The varieties, especially 

 of the African Marygold, are very subject to vary; hence, 

 unless the seeds be very carefully saved from the finest flow- 

 ers, they are apt to degenerate; nor should their seeds be too 

 long sown in the same ground. 



2. Tagetes Erecta; African Marygold. Stem simple, up- 

 right; leaves pinnate, leaflets lanceolate, with hair-pointed 

 serratures; peduncles naked, one-flowered. Of this species 

 there are the following varieties: 1. Pale yellow or brimstone 

 colour. 2. Deep yellow. 3. Orange coloured : all these 

 have single, double, or fistulous flowers. 4. Middling Afri- 



