WEI 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



WEL 



805 



tube of the corolla slender, above half an inch long, twice 

 the length of the calix ; border bell-shaped, twice the length 

 of its tube, divided half way down into fire broad, obtuse, 

 horizontally spreading segments; stamina projecting beyond 

 the mouth ; antheree incumbent; stigma large, peltate, flat.. 

 Keempfer describes it as a shrub, with beautiful flowers, 

 smelling like cloves, snow-white, flesh-coloured, and red, on 

 the same plant. Native of Corea. 



Weinmannia; a genus of the class Octandria, order Digy- 

 n i a . GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth inferior, of 

 four ovate, spreading, permanent leaves. Corolla: petals 

 four, equal, undivided, larger than the calix; nectary glan- 

 dular, surrounding the base of the germen. Stamina: fila- 

 menta eight, erect, thread-shaped, longer than the petals ; 

 antheree roundish, of two cells. Pistil: germen superior, 

 ovate, acute ; styles two, somewhat spreading, the length of 

 the stamina, permanent; stigmas obtuse. Pericarp: cap- 

 sule elliptic-oblong, with two points, two cells, and two 

 valves, whose inflexed margins form the double partitions. 

 Seeds : about eight in each cell, roundish. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: of four leaves. Petals: four. Cap- 

 sule: superior, with two beaks, two cells, and two valves 



with inflexed margins. Seeds: several. The species 



are, 



* Leaves compound. 



1. Weinmannia Glabra; Smooth Pinnate Weinmannia. 

 Leaves pinnate; leaflets obovate, crenate, smooth on both 

 sides; capsule roundish-elliptical, bluntish, about half the 

 size of hemp-seed, brown. The stem is usually shrubby, 

 sometimes becoming a tree forty feet high, with round rugged 

 branches; when young, angular and coarsely downy; the 

 leaves consist of six pairs, more or less, with an odd one, of 

 obovate abrupt leaflets, half an inch in length, all nearly 

 equal, furnished with one rib, and several transverse veins, 

 entire, and wedge-shaped towards the base; flowers very 

 small, white, on fasciculated, short, thick, hairy, partial 

 stalks. Native of the West Indies. 



2. Weinmannia Tinctoria ; Red-tan Weinmannia. Leaves 

 pinnate; leaflets elliptical, crenate, smooth on both sides; 

 capsule ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed ; seeds hairy. The 

 clusters of ripe capsules are cylindrical, dense, four or five 

 inches in length. The leaves are full twice the size; the 

 clusters of flowers much more lax, less hairy; and the flow- 

 ers twice as large; as in the preceding. Found in the isle 

 of Bourbon, where the French call it Tan-rouge, because the 

 bark is used to dye leather of a red colour. Its flowers are 

 supposed to furnish the bees with most of their honey. 



3. Weinmannia Hirta; Hairy-leaved Weinmannia, or 

 Bastard Brasiletto. Leaves pinnate ; leaflets elliptic-ovate, 

 crenate, hairy at the back. It is either a shrub or a hand- 

 some tree, from forty to fifty feet high, crowned at the very 

 top of ils smooth trunk with lax, hairy, or rather downy 

 rusty-coloured branches. The leaves resemble those of the 

 preceding species in shape, but are clothed beneath, some- 

 times on both sides, with coarse scattered prominent hairs. 

 The leafy borders of each joint of the common footstalk are 

 narrower, and less angular, than those of the first and second 

 species, and their midrib is very hairy beneath ; clusters also 

 very hairy, an inch or two in length, in pairs at the summits 

 of the branches; flowers the size of the last, white; capsules 

 oblong; according to Swartz, small, oblong, rather pointed, 

 with several small roundish seeds. The flowers appear in 

 September and October. Native of lofty mountains in the 

 southern parts of Jamaica. 



4. Weinmannia Trichosperma ; Hairy-seeded Weinmannia. 

 Leaves pinnate ; leaflets elliptic-oblong, serrated, smooth on 



both sides; capsule roundish-elliptical, not obtuse; seeds 

 densely hairy, roundish-kidney-shaped. Found at San Car- 

 los in Chili. 



5. Weinmannia Tomentosa; Woolly Weinmannia. Leavei 

 pinnate ; leaflets elliptical, revolute, entire, woolly beneath 

 The leaves are hardly an inch and half long; the leaflets 

 about five pairs, with an odd one, each one-third of an inch 

 in length, convex. The joints of the common footstalk are 

 rather shorter than the leaflets, obovate, and their under side 

 woolly; stipules large, ovate, reflexed, coloured, hairy ex- 

 ternally, deciduous; flowers in very dense clusters, more 

 than an inch long, on thick, short, woolly, axillary stalks ; 

 calix hairy. This is a very distinct and singular species: 

 the branches are woody, round, densely leafy, somewhat 

 warty, of a dark brown. Native of New Granada. 



6. Weinmannia Trifoliata; Three-leaved Weinmannia. 

 Leaves ternate ; leaflets obovate, crenate, smooth, equal, 

 about an inch long, being about two-thirds the length of 

 their common footstalk, which is simple and naked ; clusters 

 cylindrical, dense, two or three inches long, on axillary stalks 

 about half their own length. Found at the Cape. 



'* Leaves simple. 



7. Weinmannia Racemosa ; Smnoth-dustered Simple-leaved 

 Weinmannia. Leaves simple, stalked, ovate, with tooth-like 

 serratures ; clusters axillary, solitary, nearly smooth, about 

 the tops of the branches, stalked, longer than the leaves, 

 cylindrical, continuous ; their general and partial stalks either 

 slightly downy or quite smooth ; capsules obovate, pointed, 

 somewhat downy. The branches are strong, woody, re- 

 peatedly branched in an opposite manner, round and rough ; 

 footstalks stout, smooth, half an inch long, articulated at the 

 summit with the leaf, which is two or two-and-a-half inches 

 long, and one broad, pointed, coriaceous, quite smooth, 

 strongly veined, beset with blunt, inflexed, wavy teeth or 

 serratures, paler beneath. Found in New Zealand. 



8. Weinmannia Parviflora ; Small-flowered Weinmannia. 

 Leaves simple, nearly sessile, ovate, pointed, with tooth-like 

 serratures, on short stalks, oblong, smooth on both sides; 

 clusters terminal, aggregate, hairy, from three to six at the 

 top of each branch ; flowers only one-fourth the size of the 

 preceding. Native of Otaheite. 



9. Weinmannia Ovata ; Ovate-crenate Weinmannia. Leaves 

 simple, elliptical, crenate, acute at each end, on short stalks; 

 clusters axillary, solitary, opposite, somewhat downy; at the 

 tops of the branches, each two or three inches long. This 

 tree is eighteen feet high, with furrowed knotty branches, 

 thickened at the insertion of the leaves. Native of Peru, 

 found near the town of St. Buenaventura, flowering -in June 

 and July. 



10. Weinmannia Paniculata; Pamcled Weinmannia. Leaves 

 simple, elliptic-lanceolate, sharply serrated; they resemble 

 the Sweet-Chestnut leaf, are smooth, and stand out on downy 

 footstalks: panicles axillary, compound. The panicled in- 

 florescence is singular among all the known species. Flow- 

 ers yellowish red ; capsules elliptical, acute, downy, beaked, 

 with the straight styles, which are as long as the valves; 

 seeds obovate, smooth, on slender stalks, pendulous. This 

 small tree is found on the sea-shore, near Talcahuano 

 in Chili. 



Weld. See Reseda. 



Wells. The importance of Wells in rural economy, is too 

 great to be overlooked. It would be well, before the sink- 

 ing of Wells is undertaken, to inquire into, and consider 

 minutely the nature and situation of, the springs in the neigh- 

 bourhood; without which, much fruitless expense and loss of 

 labour are often sustained. AH Wells, except those in the 



