X YL 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



X Y L 



823 



from Wachendorfia. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: 

 regular, of six petals. Capsule: superior, of three cells, 

 with many seeds. The species are, 



1. Xiphidium Album; White-flowered Xiphidium. Leaves 

 smooth ; petals linear-lanceolate. Native of the West Indies. 



2. Xiphidium Coeruleum; Blue-flowered Xiphidium. 

 Leaves numerous, alternate, sessile, somewhat sheathing, 

 sword-shaped, pointed, entire, or minutely serrated, striated, 

 with numerous longitudinal ribs; cluster compound, terminal, 

 erect, of many spreading, simply racemose branches, more or 

 less hairy; with a very minute bracte under each partial 

 flowerstalk; flowers not half an inch in diameter; three 

 outer petals green, and often downy at the back, white or 

 blue in front, afe are the three inner on both sides. Root per- 

 ennial, somewhat creeping, jointed ; stem a foot or more in 

 height, round, simple, as thick as the little finger, leafy in 

 the lower part, more or less minutely hairy. Native of 

 South America, as well as of the islands Tobago and St. 

 Kill's. 



Xylocarpus; a genus of ihe class Octandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth inferior, 

 of one leaf, club-shaped, coriaceous, somewhat coloured, with 

 four roundish teeth. Corolla : petals four, ovate-oblong, 

 rather coriaceous, widely spreading, twice the length of the 

 calix ; nectary erect, ovate, inflated, somewhat fleshy, with 

 eight marginal segments. Stamina: filamenta no other than 

 the eight segments of the nectary, linear, obtuse, emarginate, 

 shorter than the petals ; antherse eight, attached to the inner 

 side of the filamenta, and of the same length, linear, oblong. 

 Pistil : germen superior, ovate, smooth, slightly rugged at 

 the base ; style very short and thick ; stigma abrupt, broad, 

 bordered, its margin furrowed, its disk furrowed crosswise, 

 and perforated. Pericarp: drupe large, globose, dry, with 

 a thick coat, externally smooth, marked with four or five 

 furrows, internally woody and fibrous. Seeds : nuts eight, 

 ten, or more, angular, unequal, irregular; their outer skin 

 soft, and rather silky, inner woody and fibrous; kernel in 

 some degree woody, brittle, with a prominent embryo. Es- 

 SLNTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: oblong, with four teeth. 

 Petals: four. Nectary: inflated, with eight teeth, bearing 

 the antheree. Drupe: superior, dry, woody, with four or 



five furrows. Nuts : numerous, angular, irregular. The 



only known species is, 



1. Xylocarpus Granatirm ; Indian Wooden Pomegranate. 

 Leaves opposite, stalked, spreading, oblong, obovate, or ellip- 

 tical, acute, entire, rather larger than those of an apple-tree, 

 dark green, smooth and shining on the upper side, veiny 

 beneath, with a prominent midrib ; footstalks short, roundish, 

 spreading, a little curved, rugged, of a chestnut brown ; 

 clusters scattered, or axillary, stalked, rather spreading, 

 shorter than the leaves; their subdivisions opposite, or three- 

 forked, with round, smooth, red, tough, naked stalks ; flowers 

 yellowish, or dirty white, scentless. The fruit is larger than 

 a Pomegranate, sometimes as big as a small Melon. It con- 

 tains from eight to twenty angular, unequal nuts, larger than 

 chestnuts. The tree varies greatly in size, being sometimes 

 little more than a shrub; the wood is elegantly veined, but 

 so twisty and knotty that no large pieces can be obtained : 

 its trunk is erect, with a hard deeply-cracked bark ; the head 

 dense, roundish, or oblong. Native of the muddy thickets 

 on the sea-shores of Amboyna, Ceylon, and other parts of 

 the East Indies. 



Xyloma ; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order Fungi. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Flat, nearly orbicular. Recep- 

 tacle : various, hard, somewhat fleshy internally, either re- 

 maining closed, or bursting unequally. Observe. This geuus 

 VOL.. ii. 134. 



is distinguished by its internal solidity, being of a corky or 

 woody substance, having nothing of a gelatinous nature ; and, 

 from the minuteness of the species, are good subjects for 



microscopical observation.- The species are, 



* Compound. Several Receptacles combined ; rather large. 



1. Xyloma Salicinum; Sallow-leaf Xyloma. Thick, tu- 

 berculated, internally cartilaginous, and white at the base. 

 Persoon remarks, that this is generally closed, though he has 

 found it, in the spring, breaking the upper part, into several 

 portions, like the shell of a tortoise, from the interstices of 

 which the fine powdery seeds fly off like smoke. It is black, 

 and about an inch and half broad. Common on the leaves 

 of Salix Capraa. 



2. Xyloma Andromedae; Marsh Rosemary Xyloma. Ob- 

 long, thickish, with rib-like elevations, polished. It is rather 

 thick for its size ; the lower stratum white and firm, as in the 

 preceding. It is found, in summer, on the leaves of Andro- 

 meda Polifolia, which appear as if spotted with pitch in con- 

 sequence. Sometimes each fungus is as long as the whole 

 leaf, sometimes only half as long. 



3. Xyloma Acerinum ; Maple Xyloma. Dilated, some- 

 what orbicular, thin, flat, black, slightly corrugated towards 

 the centre. It consists of numerous, black, opaque inseparable 

 patches, scattered over the upper side of the leaf, each about 

 a quarter or one third of an inch in diameter; the margin 

 sometimes variously and elegantly notched or fringed, and 

 always circumscribed by a very striking yellow, or tawny 

 discoloration of the leaf. Found in autumn on the leaves of 

 Acer Platanoides and Campestre. 



4. Xyloma Punctatum ; Sycamore Xyloma. Dilated, thin, 

 imperfectly orbicular, somewhat convex, black; receptacles 

 unequal, aggregate, parallel, oblong, blunt, superficial. It 

 is frequent on the faded or fallen leaves of Acer Pseudoplata- 

 nus, which is seldom found free from it in autumn and winter. 

 The patches of this parasite are from half an inch to an inch 

 wide, closely united with the leaf, slightly convex above, and 

 rather concave at the under side, which is rather blackened 

 by them, especially at the circumference of each. 



5. Xyloma Stellare; Starry Xyloma. Thin, pitchy, the 

 margin fringed with radiating fibres ; about half an inch broad, 

 more or less, of a handsome appearance, with an uniform 

 smooth disk, very black; the marginal fringe either black or 

 grayish. Sometimes found on the leaves of Phyteuma Spi- 

 catum. 



6. Xyloma Rubrum ; Red Xyloma. Aggregate, orbicular, 

 somewhat confluent, red. The patches are each from two to 

 four lines broad, rather thick, with darker coloured super- 

 ficial dots, visible only with a microscope. The genus of 

 this species is doubtful. It generally occurs in autumn on 

 the leaves of Prunus Domestica. 



** Simple. Receptacles solitary, scattered, generally cupped 

 or dotted : smaller. 



7. Xyloma Pezizoides ; Cup-like Xyloma. Rather crowd- 

 ed, orbicular, black, opening at length with an upright some- 

 what crenate border, and a pale olive or greenish disk.. 

 Found upon fallen leaves of Oak, in December; and upon 

 Beech leaves, but not in such perfection : something larger 

 than a Mustard-seed. 



8. Xyloma Sphaerioides ; Dot-like Xyloma. Scattered, 

 dot-like, softish, with an open disk, and a collapsed, inflexed 

 border. The outside is black; the disk, which is rarely all 

 displayed, appears paler. Found upon the leaves of Salix 

 Caprcea. 



9. Xyloma Hysterioides ; Oblong Xyloma. Elliptical, 

 shining, ranged nearly parallel. Each plant is a third of a 

 line long, black, solid within : a longitudinal line seems to 



9Z 



