756 



VIS 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



VIT 



found. Mr. Ray saw a seed inserted into the bark of a 

 White Poplar-tree, by boring a hole, which grew freely ; and 

 many persons have succeeded in the same experiment by 

 rubbing the berries on the smooth bark of the under side of 

 the branches of various trees, or inserting them into small 

 clefts made for that purpose. 



2. Viscum Rubrum; Red-berried Misseltoe. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate-obtuse ; spikes lateral. The berries are round and 

 red. It is found growing principally upon Mahogany-trees, 

 in the Bahamas; found also in Carolina. 



3. Viscum Purpureum ; Purple-berried Misseltoe. Leaves 

 obovate ; racemes lateral. Native of America and the West 

 Indies, growing principally on the Manchineel-tree. 



4. Viscum Opuntioides ; Indian Fig -like Misseltoe, Stem 

 proliferous, very much branched, leafless ; joints wedge- 

 shaped, furrowed, compressed. The flat joints at once dis- 

 tinguish this species : each joint is rather more than an inch 

 long, of a yellowish-green. Flowers small, terminating each 

 joint, in pairs ; berries white. Native of Jamaica and of the 

 Society Islands ; found upon trees. 



5. Viscum Japonicum ; Japanese Misseltoe. Stem proli- 

 ferous, branched, leafless; joints three-cornered; branches 

 dichotomous. Native of Japan. 



6. Viscum Capense ; Cape Misseltoe. Leaflets with bra- 

 chiate branches. It has no leaves, like the two preceding 

 species. Found upon trees at the Cape. 



7. Viscum Verticillatum ; Whorled Misseltoe. Stem 

 whorled ; leaves ovate, three-nerved, blunt. Native of the 

 northern parts of Jamaica, where it is used in medicine. 



8. Viscum Flavens ; Yellow Misseltoe. Leaves ovate, 

 veined ; racemes axillary, in threes or fours on each side. 

 Shrubby. Native of the West Indies and Guiana. 



9. Viscum Pauciflorum; Few-flowered Misseltoe. Leaves 

 ovate, obtuse, nerveless; flowers scattered, solitary; stem 

 shrubby; branches alternate. Native of the Cape. 



10. Viscum Capitellatum ; Capitate Misseltoe. Leaves 

 wedge-shaped, concave, obtuse ; berries capitate, on axillary 

 stalks. Stems three inches high, branched, roughish to the 

 touch. Found in Ceylon by Koenig. 



11. Viscum Rotundifolium ; Round-leaved Misseltoe. 

 Leaves orbicular; flowers in whorls. Native of the Cape. 



12. Viscum Antarcticum ; New Zealand Misseltoe. Leaves 

 ovate, quite entire ; racemes on the branches, and termi- 

 nating, jointed. Native of New Zealand. 



Vismea ; a genus of the class Dodecandria, order Trigynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five-leaved, 

 permanent; leaflets lanceolate, recurved, three outer hairy. 

 Corolla: petals five, elliptic, spreading, scarcely longer than 

 the calix. Stamina: filamenta twelve, filiform, erect, shorter 

 than the petals, inserted into the receptacle; antherse quad- 

 rangular, erect, terminated by an awn. Pistil: germen 

 rough-haired, superior, attenuated as it were into a very 

 short rough-haired style ; styles three, filiform, smooth ; 

 stigmas simple. Pericarp : nul ovate, smooth, acuminate, 

 two or three celled, half-inferior, enclosed within the con- 

 verging calix-leaves, and for the most part covered by the 

 one-leafed part of the calix, which is connate with the nut, 

 but a third of the upper part of the nut within the calix is 

 naked. Seeds: in each cell one. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: five-leaved, inferior. Corolla: five-petalled. Nut: 

 two or three celled, half-inferior. The only known spe- 

 cies is, 



1. Vismea Mocanera. A small shrub, with a round, 

 rugged, or somewhat warty stem ; leaves alternate, erect, on 

 short petioles, elliptic, very smooth, veined, serrate ; pedun- 

 cles axillary, solitary, nodding, scarcely longer than the 



petioles, naked, one-flowered; flowers small; corolla yellow. 

 When the flower is impregnated, the peduncle is erected, the 

 calix closed and thickened, and its three outer leaflets 

 become brown and hairy. Found in mountain-woods in the 

 Canary Islands. 



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

 mia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 tubular, cylindric, very short, five-toothed. Corolla: one- 

 petalled, ringent ; tube cylindric, slender, curved ; border flat, 

 two-lipped ; upper lip trifid, with the middle segment wider; 

 lower lip trifid, with the middle segment bigger. Stamina: 

 filamenta four, capillary, a little longer than the tube, two 

 of which are shorter than -the others ; antherse versatile. 

 Pistil: germen roundish; style filiform, length of the tube ; 

 stigmas two, awl-shaped, spreading. Pericarp: berry or 

 drupe globular, four-celled. Seeds: solitary, ovate. ESSEN- 

 TIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-toothed. Corolla: border 

 two-lipped ; middle segment of the lower lip largest. Drupe : 

 one-seeded, a four-celled nut. The species are, 



1. Vitex Ovata; Ovate-leaved Chaste Tree. Leaves simple, 

 ovate. Stem shrubby, trailing, with quadrangular branches ; 

 flowers at the top of the branches, at first axillary, but finally 

 terminating and panicled; panicle subtrichotomous; calix 

 hoary; corolla purplish. Native of China and Japan. 



2. Vitex Triflora; Three-flowered Chaste Tree. Leaves 

 ternate, smooth ; peduncles axillary and terminating, three- 

 flowered. Branches below roundish, smooth, purplish above, 

 four-cornered, with a rust-coloured down, jointed ; joints 

 two inches long; gems golden rust-colour; petioles purplish. 

 Native of Cayenne. 



3. Vitex Divaricata ; Spreading Chaste Tree. Leaves quite 

 entire, smooth on both sides, the middle one very large, with 

 a dichotomous divaricating panicle. A tree; the branches 

 obscurely four-cornered, smooth, with an ash-coloured bark ; 

 flowers whitish, five-cleft. Native of the West India Islands. 



4. Vitex Pubescens ; Downy Chaste Tree. Leaves ter- 

 nate, pubescent; panicles trichotomous ; bractes length of 

 the calix, four-cornered, pubescent. Flowers six or seven 

 on the outmost branches of the panicle, sessile, alternate. It 

 differs from the ninth species in having the leaves not hoary 

 beneath, the pedicels not dichotomous, the flowers longitu- 

 dinally sessile and alternate. Native of the East Indies. 



5. Vitex Altissima; Tall Chaste Tree. Leaves ternate, 

 quite entire, downy beneath ; panicle whorled. A tree, fifty 

 feet high, with a heavy reddish wood. Flowers small, sweet- 

 scented, blueish, numerous ; berry three-seeded. Found in 

 the vast woods of Ceylon. 



6. Vitex Agnus-Castus; Officinal Chaste Tree. Leaves 

 digitate, seven or five leaved, lanceolate, mostly quite entire, 

 spiked, whorled, panicled. Stalk shrubby, eight or ten feet 

 high, sending out their whole length opposite branches, 

 which are angular, pliable, covered with a grayish bark. 

 The flowers are produced in spikes at the extremity of the 

 branches, from seven to fifteen inches in length, composed 

 of distant whorls ; in some plants they are white, and in 

 others blue: they have an agreeable odour when they open 

 fair, and make a good appearance in autumn, when the flowers 

 of most other shrubs are gone. They are generally late before 

 they appear, so that in bad seasons they do not open fair in 

 England, aud even in warm years produce no seeds. The 

 seeds were formerly in repute for securing chastity ; hence 

 the Athenian matrons, in the sacred rites of Ceres, used to 

 string their couches with the leaves. The scent of the fresh 

 plant is peculiarly unpleasant, causing a degree of nausea 

 or faintness ; which perhaps may account for its reputed 

 virtues. Propagation. SfC. It is very hardy, and may be 



