XER 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



XER 



819 



serrated, nearly equal at the base, from nine to eleven pairs, 

 with an odd one, each three inches in length, pointed, dotted, 

 slightly downy beneath ; common footstalks downy and 

 prickly, sometimes without prickles; panicles axillary. 

 Brought from the Chusan. 



9. Xanthoxylum Juglandifolitim ; Walnut-leaved Yellow 

 Wood. Stem prickly ; leaves pinnate, with an odd one ; leaf- 

 lets oblong', pointed, obscurely serrated, unequal at the base, 

 marked with obscure, distant, pellucid dots; common foot- 

 stalk somewhat prickly ; panicles terminal, much branched, 

 dense, downy ; capsules four or five, rather downy, pointed ; 

 seeds black. Native of Hispaniola and Nevis. 



10. Xanthoxylum Rigidum; Rigid Yellow Wood. Stem 

 prickly ; leaflets elliptical, entire, emarginate, pointed, their 

 veins hairy beneath; midribs and footstalks prickly. Native 

 of South America. 



11. Xanthoxylum Hermaphroditum; Cayenne Yellow Wood. 

 Stem prickly; leaflets elliptic-oblong, pointed, entire, nearly 

 equal at the base; common footstalk without prickles; pani- 

 cles terminal, repeatedly compound ; flowers united ; cap- 

 sules three, four, or five from each flower, reddish, each con- 

 taining a black, shining, oily seed. These capsules have a 

 pungent aromatic flavour, and the Creoles call them Negro's 

 Pepper. This is a tree, the trunk forty or fifty feet high, and 

 two feet and a half in diameter, with a prickly bark. The 

 wood is white, hard, and compact. Found in the forests of 

 Cayenne ; flowering in May. 



12. Xanthoxylum Fraxineum ; Ash-leaved Yellow Wood, or 

 Common Toothache Tree. Stem prickly ; leaflets ovate, very 

 minutely serrated, equal at the base, four or five pairs, with 

 an odd one, an inch and a half long, on short partial stalks, 

 contracted at each end, more or less distinctly crenate, or 

 bluntly serrated, smooth above, soft, and downy beneath ; 

 umbels axillary. The flowers are small, yellowish-green, in 

 little dense umbels, just above the scars of last year's foot- 

 stalks, accompanied by a tuft of downy young leaves. The 

 mode of inflorescence abundantly distinguishes this species 

 from all the rest. It is a large deciduous shrub ; the branches 

 are armed with sharp, conical, compressed, brown prickles, 

 very broad at the base. A tincture of the bark and capsules 

 is recommended in rheumatism, and the toothache, from 

 which it derives its English name. The bark is used in 

 America as a powerful sudorific and diuretic, whence its use, 

 as above-mentioned, in rheumatic disorders. It is a native 

 of shady woods near rivers, from Canada to Virginia and 

 Kentucky; flowering in April and May. 



13. Xanthoxylum Tricarpum ; Three-grained Yellow Wood. 

 Stem prickly; leaflets stalked, oblong-oval, pointed, very 

 smooth, finely serrated, oblique at the base; common foot- 

 stalk prickly ; capsules three, sessile. It is a hardy shrub, 

 flowering in July in the woods of Carolina and Florida. 



14. Xanthoxylum Heterophyllum ; Various-leaved Yellow 

 Wood. Young branches prickly ; their leaves with very 

 numerous serrated leaflets, on prickly common stalks; old 

 ones unarmed; their leaves of seven entire leaflets, on un- 

 armed common stalks; panicles axillary; capsules solitary. 

 Found in the isle of Bourbon. 



Xeranthemum ; a genus of the class Svngenesia, order Poly- 

 gamia-Superflua. GENERIC CHARACTER. Common Calix: 

 imbricated; scales numerous, elliptic-lanceolate, scariose, 

 permanent, the inner one milch longer than the disk, coloured, 

 forming a radiant crown to the whole compound flower. 

 Corolla: compound, somewhat unequal; florets of the disk 

 very numerous, all perfect, tubular, funnel-shaped, much 

 shorter than the calix, in five equal spreading segments, those 

 of the circumference fewer, female, tubular, somewhat two- 

 VOL.'II. 134., 



lipped, with five unequal segments. Stamina: (in the per- 

 fect florets) filamenta five, capillary, very short; antherse 

 forming a cylinder rather longer than the corolla. Pistil: 

 (in the same florets) germen short; style thread-shaped, 

 longer than the stamina ; stigma cloven : in the female florets, 

 stamina none. Pistil: germen and style as in the perfect 

 florets ; stigma simple, club-shaped. Pericarp: none, except 

 the calix scarcely at all altered, except being closed. Seed: 

 in both kinds of florets alike, oblong; down a row of taper- 

 pointed narrow scales. Receptacle : flattish, clothed with 

 linear acute scales, rather longer than the florets. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Receptacle: scaly. Down: of taper-pointed 

 scales. Calix : imbricated, its inner scales forming a coloured 

 spreading radius. The species are, 



1. Xeranthemum Annuum ; Purple Xeranthemunt, or Ever- 

 lasting Flower. Outer calix-scales roundish-elliptical, awned, 

 smooth at the keel; inner lanceolate, spreading; crown of 

 the seed lanceolate, shorter than the calix. Stem erect, 

 branching, bearing linear-lanceolate, white, cottony leaves, 

 and numerous flowers, an inch or more in diameter. The 

 outer calix-scales are membranous and shining, pale, quite 

 smooth, each with a red or brownish midrib, most con- 

 spicuous upwards, and terminating in a small awn-like 

 point. The variety from the Valais has flowers of a smaller 

 diameter, and a less spreading calix; but we do not find 

 that its outer scales are more acute, though somewhat vari- 

 able in that respect; the inner are less strikingly purple, and 

 tjurn browner as they fade. The semidouble kind is espe- 

 cially preferred for cultivation. The flowers, with their 

 stalks dried quickly, preserve their purple colour long, and 

 form a part of the winter decorations for a chimney-piece ; 

 but for this purpose the back of every coloured scale of the 

 calix should be drawn, while fresh, over the edge of a blunt 

 knife, to keep the flower open after it is dried. This species 

 is hardy, annual, common in our gardens, flowering in July 

 and August. Native of dry hilly ground in Austria, France, 

 Italy, and Greece. Propagation and Culture. The first 

 species, and its varieties, are increased by sowing their seeds 

 in pots of light fresh mould in the autumn or spring, or in other 

 seasons for a succession, plunging them in a moderate hot- 

 bed to bring the plants forward. In the spring they may also 

 be sown in patches where they are to remain, or in beds, to 

 be afterwards removed. When the plants have a few inches' 

 growth, they should be pricked out in rows a foot apart on 

 beds, or in the borders, clumps, or other places, where they 

 are to grow. They should afterwards be kept clean from 

 weeds, and have occasional waterings immediately after 

 pricking out, and afterwards in dry weather. 



2. Xeranthemum Cylindriaceum ; Cylindrical Xeranthe- 

 mum. Outer calix-scales elliptical, pointless, woolly at the 

 keel; inner lanceolate, erect. This is distinguished from the 

 preceding species by its strong disagreeable smell. Native 

 of Germany, also of Asia Minor. 



3. Xeranthemum Orientale ; Oriental Xeranthemum. Outer 

 calix-scales roundish, membranous; inner ovate, pointed, 

 erect; crown of the seed ovate, awned, longer than the calix. 

 The leaves of this species appear to be broader and more 

 elliptical than either of the foregoing. But its most striking 

 difference is visible in the ovate scales, forming the crown of 

 the seeds, each of them ending in a long point, for overtop- 

 ping the upright radiant scales of the calix. Native of 

 Armenia and Syria. 



4. Xeranthemum Vestitum; Leafy-flowered Eternal Flower. 

 Shrubby, erect : leaves sessile, lanceolate-linear, woolly, 

 tomentose, sharpish, the floral ones appendicled with a mem- 

 brane at the tip; branches one-flowered. Native of the 



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