TR A 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



TRA 



(585 



all directed one way, simple ; racemes peduncled, axillary, 

 solitary, longer than the leaves, filiform, loose, composed of 

 numerous very small male flowers, on very short pedicels, 

 and females at the base, pedicelled, solitary, larger. Native 

 of the East and West Indies. It is very common in Jamaica, 

 and is well known there on account of its sharp stinging 

 hairs, with which the whole plant is covered. The root 

 is looked upon as a good aperient and diuretic, for which 

 purposes both the expressed juice and the decoction are some- 

 times used among the natives. Propagation and Culture. 

 Sow the seeds on a hot-bed early in the spring : when the 

 plants are in a proper state, transplant each into a hot-bed 

 of tanner's bark, treating them in the same way as other ten- 

 der plants which require the protection of the bark-stove. 



2. Tragia Cordifolia; Heart-leaved Tragia. Leaves cor- 

 date; stem twining; female bractes five-leaved, pinnatifid ; 

 spikes terminating. The preceding species differs from this, 

 this having the leaves grossly serrate, and the bractes entire. 

 Found in Arabia Felix. 



3. Tragia Involucrata ; Involucred Tragia. Leaves ovate, 

 pointed, serrate, hispid; stem climbing; segments of the 

 female calix pinnatifid, bristly. Root annual ; stem twining, 

 rising to the height of ten feet, much branched, leafy, round, 

 densely covered with pale bristly hairs. Native of the East 

 Indies, in sandy ground. 



4. Tragia Mercurialis; Ovate-leaved Tragia. Leaves ovate, 

 pointed, serrate; spikes panicled ; stem erect. Found in the 

 East Indies. 



5. Tragia Urens ; Stinging Tragia. Leaves lanceolate, 

 obtuse, somewhat toothed. Annual, flowering in August. 

 Native of Virginia. 



6. Tragia Chamselea; Lance-leaved Tragia. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, obtuse, quite entire ; stem erect, divided into long 

 erect branches ; root annual, very slender, fibrous, blackish ; 

 seeds oblong, ash-coloured. Native of the East Indies. 



7. Tragia Cannabina ; Hemp-leaved Tragia. Leaves three- 

 parted ; stem erect, round, hispid ; peduncles lateral, solitary, 

 one-flowered, length of the leaves. Native of Malabar. 



8. Tragia Corniculata ; Horn-fruited Tragia. Leaves sub- 

 cordate-ovate, attenuated, almost quite entire; valves of the 

 capsules two-horned. Root annual, fibrous; stem herba- 

 ceous, erect, a foot and half high, hairy, round ; branches 

 alternate, spreading, simple. Found in the island of Tri- 

 nidad, and Guiana. 



9. Tragia Macrocarpa ; Large-fruited Tragia. Plant 

 climbing, hispid ; leaves deeply cordated, ovate, acutely den- 

 tate, hispid. Discovered by Michaux in Kentucky. Annual ; 

 flowering in July. 



10. Tragia Nepetifolia; Nep-leaved Tragia. Leaves ob- 

 long-cordate, serrated, hispid; stem erect, much branched. 

 An annual herbaceous plant, a foot high ; leaves alternate, 

 an inch long ; clusters axillary and terminal. Native of New 

 Spain, flowering in August. 



Tragopogon; a genus of the class Syngenesia, order Poly- 

 gamia-jEqualis. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: common, 

 simple, eight-leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, equal, alternately 

 interior, all united at the base. Corolla: compound, imbri- 

 cate, uniform ; corollets hermaphrodite, many, exterior ones 

 a little longer; proper one-petalled, ligulate, truncate, five- 

 toothed. Stamina: filamenta five, capillary, very short; 

 antherse cylindrical, tubulous. Pistil: germen oblong; style 

 filiform, length of the stamina; stigmas two, revolute. Peri- 

 carp: none; calix converging, acuminate, length of the seeds, 

 ventriculose, at length reflexed. Seeds: solitary, oblong, 

 attenuated to both ends, angular, rugged, terminated by a 

 long, awl-shaped, down-bearing stipe. Down: feathered, 



flat, with about thirty-two rays. Receptacle: naked, flat, 

 rugged. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: simple. Down: 

 feathered. Receptacle: naked. These plants are propagated 

 by seeds, which should be sown in April upon an open spot 

 of ground, in rows about nine or ten inches' distance; and 

 when the plants are come up, they should be hoed out, leav- 

 ing them about six inches asunder in the rows. The weeds 

 should also be carefully hoed down as they are produced, 

 otherwise they will soon overbear the plants and spoil them. 

 This is all the culture required ; and if the soil be light, and 

 not too dry, the plants will have large roots before winter; 

 at which time the Salsafie, the roots of which are then eaten, 

 will be fit for use, and may be taken up any time after their 

 leaves begin to decay, but when they begin to shoot again, 

 they will be sticky and not fit for use, though many persons 

 cultivate this species for the shoots. Some people, in culti- 

 vating these plants, sow their seeds in beds pretty close, and, 

 when they come up, transplant them out in rows at the 

 before-mentioned distance ; but as they form a tap-root which 

 abounds with a milky juice, when the extreme part of their 

 roots is broken by transplanting, they seldom thrive well 

 afterwards : hence it is the best way to make shallow drills 

 in the ground, and scatter the seeds therein, as before di- 

 rected, whereby the rows will be at a due distance ; and 

 there will be nothing more to do than to hoe out the plants 

 when they are too thick in the rows, which will be much 

 less trouble than the other method of transplanting ; 'and the 

 plants will be much larger and fairer. The common Yellow 

 sort, the shoots of which are sold in the market, will be fit 

 for use in April or May, according to the forwardness of 

 season. The best time to cut them is, when their stems are 

 about four inches long ; for if they stand too long, they are 

 not so tender. A few plants should be suffered to run up to 



stalk every spring, to produce seeds. The species are, 



1. Tragopogon Pratensis; Common Yellow Goat's Beard. 

 Calices nearly equal to the ray of the corollas ; leaves entire, * 

 keeled, acuminate, dilated at the base; peduncle round. 

 Root biennial, fleshy, tapering, abounding with milk, which 

 is sweet, not acrid ; whole herb smooth and very even ; stems 

 several, branched, eighteen inches or two feet high, leafy, 

 round, often tinged with purple; branches elongated into a 

 simple naked peduncle ; flowers yellow, large and hand- 

 some, opening at day-break, and closing before noon, except 

 in cloudy weather. Geertner remarks, that the receptacle is 

 at first flat, but becomes a little convex. He describes the 

 seeds as very long, fusiform, club-shaped, striated, smooth 

 or rugged, with acute dots, whitish, ending in the stipe ; the 

 seed-down white, and caducous ; the rays chaffy, unequal, 

 the length of the stipe, which is of a subulate setaceous form, 

 solid, and nearly equal to the seed in length. Before the 

 stems shoot up, the roots, boiled like Asparagus, have the 

 same flavour, and are nearly as nutritious. Villars relates, 

 that the children in Dauphiny universally eat the stems and 

 leaves of the young plants before the flowers appear; and 

 that the fresh juice of these tender herbs is the best dissolvent 

 of the bile; and that both animals and children invite us to 

 make use of this remedy, which relieves the stomach without 

 danger, and without introducing into the blood an acrid 

 corrosive stimulant, as is frequently done by salts, soaps, 

 and resins, when employed for this purpose. In some parts 

 of England it is called Buck's Beard, from the German ; and 

 Jack Go-to-bed-at-noon, from the circumstance of the flowers 

 closing about mid-day. It is also named Joseph's Flower, 

 from the Dutch, and Star of Jerusalem. It flowers in June; 

 and though a native of Siberia, is not uncommon among the 

 grass in Great Britain. 



