TR A 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



TR A 



683 



stems two cubits high, scandent, four-cornered, fistulous, 

 branched ; flowers in a naked terminating raceme, of a dusky 

 violet colour at the base of the peduncles, which are alternate 

 and very short ; there is a bristle-shaped bracte at the base 

 of each flower. The plant is of very luxuriant growth, fill- 

 ing a moderate-sized stove. The flowers are produced in 

 abundance from midsummer till the end of autumn. Native 

 of Peru. 



Tower Mustard. See Turritis. 



Toxicodendrum ; a genus of the class Dioecia, order Poly- 

 andria. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. Calix : of several 

 leaves. Corolla: none. Stamina: from ten to twenty, very 

 short. Female. Calix : of several imbricated leaves. Co- 

 rolla: none. Style: one. Stigmas: three. Capsule: three- 

 celled, six-valved. Seeds: two in each cell. There is but 



one species, viz. 



1. Toxicodendrum Capense; Hyaena Poison. A shrub, or 

 small tree, six or seven feet high, with spreading branches. 

 Fruit smooth, about the size and shape of a Hiccory nut. 

 This, on being beaten to powder, is used to poison the car- 

 cases of lambs, &c. by feeding on which the hyaenas are effec- 

 tually destroyed. Found at the Cape, on a single spot, in a 

 rocky soil, on Wind-Hoek mountains, near Elephant's river. 



Tozzia ; a genus of the class Didynamia, order Angiosper- 

 mia. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER Calix : tubular, five-toothed. 

 Corolla : ringent, with five rounded segments. Capsule : one- 

 celled, globular, two-seeded. The only species yet dis- 

 covered is, 



1. Tozzia Alpina. Leaves round, bluntly notched, pale; 

 root formed of roundish scales ; stem square, branched. The 

 whole habit tender and succulent: peduncles axillary, short, 

 one-flowered ; flowers yellow, with the three lower segments 

 spotted of a deeper yellow, serrate ; fruit globular, drawn out 

 into a conical point. Native of the mountains of Switzer- 

 land, Austria, south of France, Italy, and the Pyrenees, in 

 rough moist places. 



Trachelium; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five-parted, 

 very small, superior. Corolla: one-petalled, funnel-form; 

 tube cylindrical, very long, very slender ; border patulous, 

 small, five-parted ; segments ovate, concave. Stamina: fila- 

 menta five, capillary, nearly the length of the corolla ; antherse 

 simple, oblong. Pistil: germen three-sided, roundish, infe- 

 rior ; style filiform, twice as long as the corolla ; stigma 

 globular. Pericarp : capsule roundish, obtusely three-lobed, 

 three-celled, opening by three holes at the base. Seeds : 

 numerous, very small. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: 

 funnel-form. Stic/ma : globular. Capsule: three-celled, infe- 

 rior. The species are, 



1. Trachelium Coeruleum ; Blue Throatwort. Branched, 

 erect : leaves ovate, serrate, flat, about two inches long, and 

 one inch broad in the middle, ending in acute points ; corymbs 

 compound. Root perennial, fleshy, tuberous, sending out 

 many fibres, which spread wide on every side. The stalks 

 rise a foot and half high, with leaves on them, shaped like 

 those at the bottom. The flowers are small, and of an azure 

 blue colour, appearing in June and July, and ripening seeds 

 in September. It derives its name from the length of its 

 neck, throat, or tube of the corolla. Biennial. Native of 

 Italy and the Levant. It is propagated by seeds, which should 

 be sown in autumn when they are ripe; for when they are 

 kept out of the ground till spring, they frequently fail ; or if 

 they do grow, it is not before the following spring. When 

 the plants appear, keep them free from weeds, and as soon 

 as they are big enough to remove, transplant them to a bor- 

 der with an eastern aspect, and light undunged earth, placin- 

 VOL. ii. 123. 



them in rows six inches apart, and four inches distant in the 

 rows, shading them from the sun till they have taken new 

 root; after which they will only require weeding till autumn, 

 when they may be transplanted into the borders of the flower- 

 garden, where they will flower in the ensuing summer. But 

 as they will thrive better in old walls, when by accident they 

 have arisen from seeds ; so their seeds, when ripe, may be 

 scattered on such walls as are old, or where there is earth 

 lodged sufficient to receive the seeds; where the plants will 

 come up, and resist the cold much better, and continue 

 longer, than when sown in the full ground. 



2. Trachelium Dirfusum ; Spreading Throatwort. Very 

 much branched, diffused ; branches divaricating, recurved ; 

 leaves awl-shaped ; flowers blue, small. Native of the Cape. 



3. Trachelium Tenuifolium ; Fine-leaved Throatwort. 

 Nearly upright: leaves linear, ciliate, hispid; flowers nume- 

 rous, axillary, white or pale yellow. Native of the Cape. 



Tradescantia ; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mo- 

 nogynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth three- 

 leaved ; leaflets ovate, concave, spreading, permanent. Co- 

 rolla: petals three, orbicular, flat, spreading very much, 

 large, equal. Stamina: filamenta six, filiform, length of the 

 calix, erect, villose with jointed hairs ; antheree kidney-form. 

 Pistil: germen ovate, obtusely three-cornered ; style filiform, 

 length of the stamina ; stigma three-cornered, obtuse. Pe- 

 ricarp : capsule ovate, covered by the calix, three-celled, 

 three-valved. Seeds : few, angular. Observe. The form of 

 the style varies. Some of the species have naked filamenta. 

 The tenth has only one stamen, and the twelfth three. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : three-leaved. Petals : three. 

 Filamenta: erect, with jointed hairs. Capsule: three-celled. 



The species are, 



1. Tradescantia Virginica; Common Virginia Spiderwort. 

 Erect : leaves lanceolate, smooth ; flowers heaped in an umbel, 

 terminating ; calix hairy. Root composed of many fleshy 

 fibres ; stalks smooth, rising a foot and half high ; flowers in 

 clusters, composed of three large spreading purple petals ; 

 they appear early in June, and though each flower continues 

 but one day, whence this plant acquired the name of Ephe- 

 merum, yet such is the profusion, that there is a succession 

 of them through the greater part of the summer. The fine 

 blue of the corolla, with the hairy filamenta of the same colour 

 in the middle, tipped with the large yellow antherse, would 

 render this a favourite flower, if it were not so common. 

 Some authors have called it Phalangium, from its supposed 

 property of curing the bite of a spider. There are two vari- 

 eties, one with a deep blue, and the other with a white flower, 

 but they vary from one to another when raised from seeds. 

 Found in shady woods from Pennsylvania to Carolina, flow- 

 ering in May and June. This plant multiplies so fast by the 

 roots and seeds, that where the latter are permitted to fall, 

 it must be yearly reduced, to be kept within bounds. The 

 best time to remove and part the roots, is in autumn. 



2. Tradescantia Crassifolia ; Thick-leaved Spiderwort. 

 Erect : leaves ovate, woolly at the edge and beneath ; flowers 

 heaped in umbels, terminating. The flowers are of a palp 

 violet, and expand only three or four hours in a morning ; 

 the petals are about half an inch in diameter, orbicular, and 

 curled at the edge; the filamenta are blue, bearded, and the 

 antherse very dark blue. The leaves of this species distin- 

 guish it from the rest of the genus. Native of Mexico, flow- 

 ering in September. This, and the twelve next following 

 species, with those from the sixteenth to the nineteenth spe- 

 cies, require the heat of a stove, in which some of them may 

 be abundantly increased both by seeds and offsets : the for- 

 mer method is to be preferred. 



8 L 



