T Y P 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



T Y P 



723 



sitting on a short footstalk ; the style thickened above, and 

 the stigma black; seeds very small, on a downy peduncle, 

 terminated by an awn ; receptacle of the male catkin hairy. 

 The quantity of impregnating dust in the male spike is exceed- 

 ingly great, but proportioned to the great number of seeds 

 in the female spike below: whether these generally vegetate, 

 has not yet been ascertained ; we only know that many plants 

 which increase much by the root, seldom produce perfect 

 seed. The part which Linneus describes as the calix, appears 

 rather to consist of some hairs proceeding from the recep- 

 tacle, and which seem more evidently to be so, from the 

 hairy appearance of the receptacle after the dropping off of 

 the stamina. Curtis observes, it would be much less puz- 

 zling, and perhaps more agreeable to the system, to place this 

 plant in the order Polyandria, there being many stamina, and 

 all united to one receptacle. Haller says, that the roots are 

 eaten in salads, that cattle eat the leaves, and that the downy 

 seeds serve for stuffing pillows. Linneus relates, that coopers 

 used the leaves to fasten the hoops round their casks. Schrce- 

 ber asserts, that the leaves are suspected to be poisonous. 

 Browne informs us, that in Jamaica the leaves make good 

 mats, and are sometimes used for thatch. The appearance 

 of this species has engaged gentlemen fond of water plants 

 to introduce it on the edges of ponds; and painters frequently 

 represent it in aquatic scenes. Rubens has put it into the 

 hand of Christ as a sceptre, when he was saluted as a king in 



mockery by Herod's soldiers. It is a native of four conti- 

 nents; is common in Britain; and has been found in Jamaica, 

 and in New Zealand, in ponds, ditches, and by the sides of 

 rivers and brooks: it flowers here in July. As the plants of 

 this genus increase so much by their creeping roots, that 

 they soon choke up a small piece of water, and overpower 

 most other aquatics ; they are best cultivated for curiosity 

 in a moist border of the garden, where they will flourish, 

 and produce spikes more abundantly than in the water. 



2. Typha Angustifolia ; Narrow-leaved Cafs-tail. Leaves 

 semicylindrical,flattish, equalling the culm; male and female 

 spike remote. This differs from the preceding in having 

 much narrower leaves, not exceeding one-third the breadth 

 of the other, semicylindrical below, flat and strap-shaped 

 toward the end ; it has also more slender spikes, though the 

 plant grows as tall and as firm as the Great Cat's-tail, and 

 the male and female spikes about an inch asunder. There 

 is a variety, called Dwarf Cat's-tail, which Dr. Smith con- 

 siders as a distinct species. The culm is a foot and half 

 high, but only a third of the size of this species; the spike, 

 however, is three times as thick, abbreviated, foliolose, inter- 

 rupted, the upper ament either entirely male, as in the others, 

 or female at bottom. Native of Europe, Barbary, and Sibe- 

 ria; found also in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Ithasbeen ob- 

 served on Woolwich common; in the clay pits of Norfolk and 

 Suffolk; and, along with the variety, on Hounslow Heath. 



' VAC 



VACCINIUM; a genus of the class Octandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth one-leaf- 

 ed, small, superior, permanent. Corolla: one-petalled, bell- 

 shaped, four-cleft; segments revolute. Stamina: filatnenta 

 eight, simple, inserted into the receptacle; antherse two- 

 horned, furnished at the back with two spreading awns, open- 

 ing at the tip. Pistil: germen roundish, interior ; style simple, 

 longer than the stamina; stigma obtuse. Pericarp: berry glo- 

 bular, umbilicate, four-celled. Seeds: few, small. Observe. 

 One-fifth is often added to every part of, the fructification. 

 The calix in most of the species is four-cleft, in the first it is 

 quite entire; and almost the whole of the fresh corolla is 

 rolled back to the base in the twenty-seventh species. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : superior. Corolla : one-pe- 

 talled. Filamenta : inserted into the receptacle. Berry : 



four-celled, many- seeded. The species are, 



* With deciduous Leaves. 



1. VacciniumMyrtillus; Bilberry, Bleaberry, Whortleberry, 

 or Black Whortles. Peduncles one-flowered ; leaves ovate, 

 serrate, deciduous; stem angular; calix scarcely divided. 

 Root perennial, woody; stem shrubby, erect, scarcely a foot 

 high, very much branched, forming a small tufted bush ; 

 branches smooth, green, twisted, sharply angular, especially 

 the young ones ; flowers axillary, solitary, on short simple 

 round peduncles, drooping, globular, or nearly so, but a 

 little flatted at the base, flesh-coloured, or rather pale red- 

 dish-purple, inodorous ; berry the size of a currant, glo- 

 bular, with a dimple at top, five-celled before it ripens, but 

 when arrived at maturity the numerous seeds are imbedded 

 in one continued, soft, acrid, blood-red pulp ; though often 

 described as black, they are in reality of a very dark blue. 

 There are as many as thirty seeds in a cell ; they are ob- 

 long, angular, very finely striated in waves, yellowish, or 

 of a red rust-colour. A variety with white berries was dis- 

 covered in the woods about midway between Dunkeld and 

 VOL. u. 126. 



VAC 



"Blair, two seats of the Duke of Athol. About May the 

 young fresh green leaves and wax-like red flowers, make an 

 elegant appearance. Towards autumn the leaves grow darker 

 and more firm ; and the ripe berries are gathered in the north 

 for tarts, and in Devonshire are eaten with clotted cream. 

 The berries are very acceptable to children, either ea.ten by 

 themselves or with milk, or in tarts. The moor-game live 

 upon them in the autumn. The juice stains paper or linen 

 purple. Goats browze upon the plant; sheep are not fond 

 of it ; and horses and cows refuse it. The berries have an 

 astringent quality ; and in Arran and the Western Islis are 

 given in diarrhoeas and dysenteries with good effect. The 

 Highlanders eat them with milk, and make them into tarts 

 and jellies, which last they mix with whisky, to give it a 

 relish to strangers. Native of Europe, Siberia, and Bar- 

 bary, on heaths and stony moors, and in woods, where the 

 soil is spongy ; flowering in May. It is abundant in the 

 mountainous parts of Great Britain : as, on Porland heath, 

 the highest spot in Norfolk; in Aspley wood, Bedford- 

 shire ; on the rocks above Great Malvern, Worcestershire ; 

 in Bishop's woods near Eccleshall, and Lightwoods near 

 Birmingham ; in the woods of Purbeck, Dorsetshire ; near 

 Loughborough in Leicestershire ; and abundantly on the 

 woods and heaths of Scotland. This, and the twenty-sixth, 

 increase very fast by their creeping roots, and when fixed in 

 a proper soil will soon overspread the ground. 



2. Vacciniura Pallidum ; Pale Bilberry or Whortleberry. 

 Racemes bracted ; corolla cylindric, bell-shaped ; leaves 

 ovate-acute, serrulate, smooth, deciduous. It flowers in 

 May and June, and is a native of North America. 



3. Vaccinium Hirtum ; Hairy Japan Whortleberry. Pe- 

 duncles one flowered ; leaves ovate-serrate ; branches round, 

 divaricating. Stem shrubby, very much branched ; flowers 

 scattered over the branchlets, solitary, drooping, on peduncles 

 half a line in length ; corolla five-cleft. Native of Japan, in 



8 X 



