816 



X AN 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



X AN 



ehort blunt point, but no branching veins ; panicles at the 

 ends of the drooping branches, compound, three-forked, 

 smooth; flowers small, yellow; their partial stalks longer 

 than the calix; petals fleshy; capsule globose, about the size 

 of a black currant, fleshy, crowned with the black stigmas all 

 meeting in a point; seeds red. Stem shrubby, with knotty 

 branches, twining round neighbouring trees. Every part of 

 the plant, when wounded, discharges a transparent, white, 

 viscid, resinous juice. Native of the forests of Guiana. The 

 Indians call it Quapoy. 



2. Xanthe Parviflora; Small-flowered Xanthe. Leaves 

 elliptic-oblong; flowers sessile ; capsule elliptical. It differs 

 from the preceding species, in having thinner leaves ; smaller 

 flowers, with shorter partial stalks ; and an oblong, thicker, 

 yellowish fruit. The bark and leaves, if cut or broken, dis- 

 charge a yellow glutinous juice, which, when dried, resembles 

 gamboge, and, like it, is soluble in water. Native of the 

 forests of Guiana. 



Xanthium; a genus of the class Moncecia, order Pentan- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Mule Flowers, compound. 

 Common Calix : of many imbricated, slender, equal scales, as 

 long as the numerous florets. Corolla: compound uniform, 

 equal, hemispherical, consisting of numerous, tubular, funnel- 

 shaped, tnonopetalous, upright, five-cleft florets. Stamina : 

 filamenta in each floret five, united into a cylinder ; anthersc 

 erect, parallel, distinct; common receptacle small, with chaffy 

 scales between the florets. Female Flowers, below the 

 male, on the same plant, doubled. Calix: involucrum two- 

 flowered, of two opposite acutely three-lobed leaves, their 

 middle lobe longest, beset with hooked prickles, and closely 

 enfolding, as well as united to the germen, except the lobes, 

 which are free. Corolla: none. Pistil: germen oval, his- 

 pid ; styles two pairs, capillary ; stigmas simple. Pericarp : 

 drupe dry, ovate-oblong, cloven at the point, clothed all over 

 with hooked prickles. Seed : nut of two cells. Observe. 

 Linneus slates, that the fruit of this genus could hardly have 

 been well understood, without a previous knowledge of that 

 of Ambrosia: both genera in fact belong to that ambiguous 

 tribe, whose habit, qualities, and, in part, the structure of 

 their male flowers, all associate them with the syngenesious 

 order; while the disunion of their flowers, and the general 

 nature of their female flowers, and fruit, place them in the 

 class Monoecia. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. Com- 

 mon Calix : imbricated. Florets: of one petal, funnel-shap- 

 ed, five-cleft. Receptacle: chaffy. Female. Calix: two- 

 leaved, two-flowered. Corolla: none. Drupe: dry, muri- 

 cated, cloven. Nut: of two cells. All these plants, except 

 the fifth species, are annual. The first will come up from the 

 seeds which fall in autumn, and requires no other care but to 

 thin the plants, and keep them clear from weeds. The second 

 species will thrive in the same way in favourable autumns; 

 but it often happens, in England, that the seeds will not 

 ripen. The fourth species will in some years perfect seeds on 

 self-sown plants; but as they sometimes fail, the sure way 

 is to raise the plants on a gentle hot-bed, and to plant them 

 out on a warm border in a lean soil.- The species are, 



1. Xanthium Strumarium; Common Burrweed, or Small 

 Burdock. Stem thornless ; leaves heart-shaped, three-ribbed 

 at the base, alternate, stalked, acutely lobed and serrated, 

 their two lateral ribs marginal for a small space, as in the 

 Great Burdock, and a few other plants : male flowers globu- 

 lar, green, few together, in axillary or terminal clusters, 

 about the upper part of the branches ; female, in axillary 

 sessile tufts; fruit elliptical, double-pointed, hard, nearly an 

 inch long, beset with firm, prominent, awl-shaped, hooked 

 prickles, which attach themselves to the coats of animals, and 



thus serve to disperse the seeds. Root annual ; herb branch- 

 ed, rough, dark green, rather fetid, of a coarse rank habit, 

 with furrowed, rather hairy branches. Native of dunghills, 

 and rich moist ground, in Europe and America. 



2. Xanthium Orientale ; Oriental Burrweed. Stem thorn- 

 less ; leaves ovate, slightly three-lobed, somewhat triple- 

 ribbed, wedge-shaped at the base. The difference between 

 this and the preceding species seems to be the taper base of 

 the leaves in the former, and the union of their three ribs, at 

 a greater or less distance, above the insertion of the footstalk. 

 The fruit is twice as large as that of the first species, with 

 peculiarly strong hooked thorns. Native of Ceylon, Japan, 

 and China. 



3. Xanthium Echinatum; Compound-thorned Burrweed. 

 Stem thornless; fruit oval; its prickles hooked, crowded, 

 compound at the base: annual. Native place unknown. 



4. Xanthium Spinosum ; Thorny Burrweed. Stipules 

 thorny, three-cleft ; the thorns are in fact stipules, an inch 

 long, very sharp, standing in pairs at the base of each foot- 

 stalk, separating, just above their origin, into three spreading 

 needle-like points ; leaves lanceolate, three-lobed, hoary be- 

 neath, their upper surface is of a fine green, nearly smooth, 

 the lower downy and white; flowers small, and inconsiderable; 

 fruit oval, covered with copious, small, hooked prickles. The 

 wild plant makes a conspicuous appearance in winter, on, 

 banks in the neighbourhood of Montpellier. It might be 

 raised here as a tender annual, and planted out in a border, 

 if there were sufficient beauty in its copious, long, flame- 

 coloured thorns to place it in the garden ; their leaves are not 

 inelegant. Native of, the south of France, Italy, Spain, and 

 Portugal. 



5. Xanthium Fruticosum. Leaves pinnatifid; segments 

 gashed. Stem shrubby, the height of a man, perennial, but 

 scarcely woody, erect, roundish, obscure, somewhat hairy ; 

 branches axillary or lateral, short. Native of Peru. 



Xanthochymus ; a genus of the class Polyadelphia, order 

 Polyandria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth in- 

 ferior, of five roundish, unequal, obtuse, flattish, spreading, 

 slightly imbricated, permanent leaves. Corolla : petals five, 

 orbicular, nearly sessile, opposite to the calix-leaves, and 

 twice as long; nectary of five broad, short, abrupt, porous 

 glands, opposite to the petals, alternate with the stamina, in- 

 serted into the receptacle under the germen. Stamina: fila- 

 menta twenty, united into five oblong, linear, flat bodies, 

 alternate with the nectaries, and above twice as long ; antherse 

 stalked, roundish, of two lobes, and two cells. Pistil: ger- 

 men superior, globose ; style scarcely any ; stigmas five, 

 spreading horizontally, obtuse, deciduous. Pericarp: berry 

 globose, succulent, with five ovate seeds, immersed in the 

 pulp, some of which are generally abortive. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: of five leaves. Petals: five. Nec- 

 taries: five, abrupt. Stamina: united into five sets, alternate 



with the nectaries. Berry: with from one to five seeds. 



The only species is, 



1. Xanthochymus Pictorius; Painter's Golden Apple. 

 This is a large tree, the tall trunk of which is covered 

 with dark rough bark, while the numerous smooth rather 

 angular branches form an ample evergreen head. Leaves 

 opposite, stalked, about a foot long, and two or three 

 inches broad, elliptic-oblong, acute, entire, coriaceous, 

 smooth, and shining, with a strong midrib, and many 

 transverse, parallel, fine interbranching veins; footstalks an 

 inch in length, angular, channelled, corrugated; stipules 

 none; flowers an inch in diameter, five or six together, in 

 stalked umbels, each umbel opposite to a leaf, or situated 

 nearly where a last year's leaf has been ; partial stalks simple, 



