YEN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



VE R 



731 



flowers in June. Found in Valencia, in Spain; and in En- 

 gland, on Salisbury Plain, not far from Stonehenge. If the 

 sueds be permitted to scatter, the plants will corne up and 

 thrive very well ; or, if they be sown, in autumn, they will 

 succeed much better than when sown in the spring. As 

 they ought not to be transplanted, the seed must be sown 

 where they are to remain, and only require thinning and 

 weeding. 



2. Vella Pseudo-cytisus ; Shrubby Velio,. Leaves entire, 

 obovate, ciliate ; silicles erect. Stem shrubby, two feet high, 

 somewhat rugged, very much branched ; leaves alternate, 

 rather fleshy, scarcely an inch long; flowers in spikes, 

 terminating; the stem and branches ; petals yellow, orbicular, 

 variegated with paler veins ; claws filiform, slightly channel- 

 led within, a little longer than the calix. Found near 

 Araujuez in Spain, where it flowers and fruits in May. It 

 is increased by seeds, like the preceding species, and will 

 continue two or three years. 



Veltheimia; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: none. Corolla: 

 of one petal, tubular, nearly cylindrical; limb regular, in six 

 very short, broad, almost equal segments. Stamina: fila- 

 menta six, thread-shaped, inserted into the tube, and not 

 projecting beyond it; antherse ovate, cloven at the base. 

 Pistil: germen superior, roundish; style thread-shaped, 

 declining; stigma simple, acute. Pericarp: capsule mem- 

 branaceous, somewhat pellucid, three-lobed, three-celled, 

 each lobe extended into a compressed rounded wing. Seeds: 

 mostly solitary, obovate, rather compressed. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Corolla: tubular, with six teeth. Stamina: 

 inserted into the tube. Capsule: membran:ifpous. with three 

 wings, and three cells, with solitary occus. The spe- 

 cies are, 



1. Veltheimia Viridifolia; Wave-leaved Veltheimia, Leaves 

 lanceolate, obtuse, with wavy plaits ; teeth of the corolla 

 rounded, erect. It flowers copiously in the winter and 

 spring, but is not easily increased either by root or seed. 

 Native of the Cape. See Aletris. 



2. Veltheimia Glauca ; Glaucous-leaved Veltheimia. Leaves 

 lanceolate, glaucous, tipped with a small point, somewhat 

 crisped at the margin ; teeth of the corolla spreading. It is 

 not so handsome as the preceding, and is more difficult of 

 culture. It flowers from January to April. Native of the 

 Cape. 



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

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: one-leafed, tubu- 

 lar, indistinctly ten-striated within the margin, which is quite 

 entire and toothless. Corolla: scales protecting the stamina. 

 Stamina: filamenta five, inserted into the calix; antherte of two 

 rounded lobes. Pistil: gcrmen superior, nearly globose; style 

 short, cloven half way down ; stigmas two, divaricated, acute. 

 Pericarp : capsule superior, globular, surrounded near the 

 middle with the remaining nectary, and terminating in a long 

 linear membranous wing, one-celled, not opening of itself. 

 Seed: solitary, round. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 tubular. Corolla : scales protecting the stamina, which are 

 inserted into the calix. Capsule: winged at the top, and 



one-seeded. The only known species is, 



. Ventilago Maderaspatana. Stem woody, climbing to a 

 great extent, with long, round, pliant, tough, leafy, often 

 downy branches ; leaves alternate, on short petioles, two- 

 faced, ovate, most slightly serrate, smooth, three or four 

 incites long; panicle terminating; flowers very numerous, 

 small, of a dirty greenish white, smelling very strong and 

 offensive, not unlike Sterculia Foetida. This shrub is gene- 

 rally dioecious, and a native of the forests and other un- 

 VOL. ii. 127. 



cultivated places among the mountains of Hindoostan and 

 Ceylon, where it flowers during the cold season ; and the 

 natives of the mountains apply the bark, in a green state, to 

 many useful purposes, as cordage. 



Venus's Comb. See Scandix. 



Venus's Fly-trap. See Dioncea. 



Venus's Looking-glass. See Campanula. 



Venus's Navclwort. See Cynoglossum Linifolium. 



Veratrum ; a genus of the class Polygamia, order Mo- 

 noecia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Hermaphrodite. Calix: 

 none, unless the corolla be considered as such. Corolla: 

 petals six, oblong, lanceolate, thinner at the edge, serrate, 

 permanent. Stamina : filamenta six, awl-shaped, pressing 

 the germina, more spreading at the tips, shorter by half than 

 the corolla; autheroe quadrangular. Pistil: germina three, 

 erect, oblong, ending in scarcely apparent styles ; stigmas 

 simple, patulous. Pericarp: capsules three, oblong, erect, 

 compressed, one-celled, one-valved, gaping inwards. Seeds: 

 many, oblong, blunter at one end, compressed, membra- 

 naceous, fastened in a double row. Male Flower: on the 

 same plant, below the hermaphrodite. Pistil: an indistinct 

 vain rudiment. ESSENTIAL CHAR.\CTKR. Calix: none. 

 Corolla: si.x-petalled, permanent, sessile, equal, bearing the 

 stamens. Styles: permanent. Capsules: three, bursting at 

 the inner edge. Seeds: numerous, compressed, imbricated, 

 winged at each end. The species are, 



1. Veratrum Album; White-flowered Veratrum, or While 

 Hellebore. Raceme'superdeeompound ; corollas erect. Root 

 perennial, composed of many thick fibres, gathered into a 

 hea'd ; stem from two to four feet high, stout, erect, simple, 

 leafy; leaves oblong, ovate, ten inches long and five broad 

 in the middle, rounded at the end, and having many longi- 

 tudinal plaits like those of Gentian. The branches and 

 principal stem are terminated by spikes of flowers, set very 

 close together, of a greenish-white or herbaceous colour, 

 appearing in July. Every part of this plant, as well as the 

 roots, is extremely acrid and poisonous ; the leaves and seeds 

 have proved deleterious to various animals. Notwithstand- 

 ing its virulence, it has been given internally in mania, 

 epilepsy, &c. but the diseases in which its efficacy seem 

 least equivocal, are those of the skin, as scabies and different 

 prurient eruptions, herpes, morbus pediculosus, leprosy, 

 and scrofula; in many of these it has been successfully 

 employed, both internally and externally. As a powerful 

 stimulant and irritating medicine, its use has been resorted 

 to only in desperate cases; and then, it is first to be tried in 

 very small doses, in a diluted state, and to be gradually 

 increased according to its effects. Greding, who employed 

 it in a great number of maniacal cases, gave the bark of the 

 root, collected in spring, in powder ; beginning with one 

 grain, and gradually increasing the dose. He also sometimes 

 used the extract, prepared after Stoerck's method. The 

 root, while yet fresh, has a strong disagreeable smell, and a 

 nauseous, bitterish, acrid, penetrating, and very durable 

 taste. Taken inwardly in doses of only ten or fifteen grains, 

 it operates both upwards and downwards with great violence, 

 and has sometimes brought on convulsions and other alarm- 

 ing symptoms. It has been remarked to affect the upper 

 part of the throat in a very peculiar manner, causing a kind 

 of strangulation or suffocation, with extreme pain nnd anxiety. 

 It has been employed in cases of lunacy, and in apoplexies, 

 with success, when all other means commonly made use of 

 have been ineffectual. For the gout, Mr. Moore gives the 

 following preparation : Take of the root, thinly sliced, eight 

 ounces, to be infused for ten days in two pints and a half of 

 white wine. It is to be then filtered through paper. The 

 8 Z 



