828 



X YR 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



X Y 9 



\ 



shaped, compressed, solitary, six or eght inches high, very 

 slender ; root small and fibrous ; leaves linear-awl-shaped, 

 compressed, two-ranked, four or five, seldom more, very nar- 

 row, tapering, but rather obtuse at the point ; their surface 

 minutely speckled, and more or less evidently reticulated or 

 dotted ; head and scales elliptical ; disk and margin uniform, 

 with slight traces of a keel. The head is about the size of 

 hemp-seed, but more oblong, acute at each end, of a copper- 

 brown, not very shining; the two lowermost scales empty, 

 rather palest, most oblong, and strongly keeled, the rest 

 elliptical, bluntly pointed, very smooth and even, without any 

 limited disk, but sometimes marked with beautiful concentric 

 veins ; their keel scarcely discernible, except in the form of 

 a short pale elevation near the apex, but not projecting into 

 a point; corolla yellow, small. Found in marshy sandy 

 ground, at Sierra Leone. 



22. Xyris Flexifolia ; Wavy-leaved Xyris. Stalk thread- 

 shaped, twisted, smooth, as well as the zigzag, slender, 

 slightly compressed leaves, from six to twelve inches high ; 

 head oval, with few flowers ; stigmas undivided. Found on 

 the southern coast of New Holland. 



23. Xyris Teretifolia; Cylindrical-leaved Xyris. Stalk 

 and leaves round, straight, and roughish, the former eighteen 

 inches high ; head ovate, many-flowered ; scales imbricated 

 every way, torn into many segments. Found on the southern 

 coast of New Holland. 



24. Xyris Lacera ; Jagged-headed Xyris. Stalk round, 

 smooth ; head nearly globular, many-flowered; scales imbri- 

 cated every way, torn into many segments. Native of New 

 Holland, on the southern coast. 



25. Xyris Subulata; Awl-leaved Peruvian Xyris. Stalk 

 thread-shaped, roughish at the top; root perennial ; leaves 

 linear, awl-shaped, their sheaths woolly at the margin; head 

 oblong, containing two or three yellow flowers. These plants 

 grow close in patches. Native of marshy cool mountainous 

 parts of Peru, and flowering there in September. 



26. Xyris Vivipara ; Viviparous Xyris. Stalk somewhat 

 compressed, roughish at the top, about a foot high, enveloped 

 at the base with a striated, keeled, bluntish, smooth, rough- 

 backed sheath, an inch and a half long; leaves linear-sword- 

 shaped, their sheaths fringed, all radical, two-ranked, from 

 two to four inches long, erect; head globular, at length leafy 

 and viviparous, rather abrupt, the size of a pepper-corn ; scales 

 roundish-ovate, bluntish, brownish, coriaceous, smooth, rather 

 transparent at the margin. After flowering, the centre of the 

 head throws out a leafy crown, which becomes a young plant ; 

 but \ve are not informed whether this leafy tuft originates in 

 the vegetation of one or two of the seeds, or in the germen 

 being supplanted in the flower by a bud, or in a proliferous 

 elongation of the stalk, wholly independent of the parts of 

 fructification. Root fibrous, perennial. Found on the banks 

 of the Oronoko. 



27. Xyris Operculata ; Imbricated Xyris. Capsule partly 



three-celled; stalk round, or slightly angular, about eigh- 

 teen inches high, quite smooth ; leaves thread-shaped ; head 

 obovate, full half an inch long, with five rows of very nu- 

 merous obovate scales, whose broad convex disk is of a 

 bronze-like hue; the margin brown and narrow, more or less 

 jagged, with a deciduous tooth-like fringe; the scales are 

 beardless, imbricated, in five rows, with numerous empty ones, 

 gradually smaller at the base ; flowers large, of a bright yel- 

 low colour; stigmas obtuse, Native of Port Jackson. 



28. Xyris Lanata; Woolly Xyris. Stalk round, smooth ; 

 leaves linear, narrow; head nearly globular; scales woolly at 

 the extremity, imbricated in five rows, with several empty ones, 

 gradually smaller at the base.. Found in New Holland. 



Xysmalobium ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order 

 Digynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth in- 

 ferior, of one leaf, in five deep, lanceolate, acute, permanent 

 segments. Corolla: of one petal, in five deep, ovate, spread- 

 ing, rather oblique segments; crown of the stamina in 'a 

 single row of ten deep segments, five of them fleshy, round- 

 ish, opposite to the antherse, simple at the inner side, five 

 intermediate cues smaller. Stamina: filamenta scarcely any ; 

 antherse five, each tipped with an ovate bluntish membrane ; 

 masses of pollen ten, compressed, smooth, pendulous, with 

 rather broad connecting processes. Pistil: germina two, 

 ovate, pointed ; styles very short ; common stigma pointless. 

 Pericarp: follicles two, inflated, clothed all over with nu- 

 merous, long, -slender, tapering, hairy, filamentous processes. 

 Seeds: numerous, imbricated, crowned with silky down. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Masses of pollen ten, smooth, pen- 

 dulous. Crown: simple, in ten deep segments, the interme- 

 diate ones minute. Corolla: spreading. Follicles: shaggy. 

 This is a genus of upright shrubs, with opposite, and some- 

 times alternate leaves ; umbels lateral, either axillary or be- 

 tween the footstalks; flowers rather large; and the border 

 of the corolla sometimes bearded. The species are, 



1. Xysmalobium Undulatum; Wave-leaved Xysmalobium. 

 Leaves undulated, naked. The thick, white, perennial root, 

 early in the spring sends out two or three round, green, leafy 

 stems ; the leaves are alternate, sessile, three or four inches 

 long, ovate-lanceolate, gradually tapering to a bluntish point, 

 with a thick midrib, and numerous interbranching veins, 

 nearly smooth on both sides, undulated and roughish at the 

 margin ; umbels axillary, stalked, much shorter than the 

 leaves, with hairy stalks, and linear hairy bractes ; flowers 

 green, their segments densely bearded at the extremity, with 

 white shaggy hairs; follicles covered with spreading hairy fila- 

 menta, an inch long. This is a green-house plant, flowering ia 

 July; and when wounded in any part, discharges a copious 

 milky fluid. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



2. Xysmalobium Grandiflorum; Large-flowered Xysmalo- 

 bium. Leaves stalked, hairy; stem simple, erect, hairy; 

 flowers large, axillary, stalked ; corolla smooth, speckled. 

 Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



Y AR 



YAM. See Dioscorea. 



Yard Manure. To prevent the vegetation of weeds in 

 this manure, it should be turned up in the farm-yard in rows 

 when it has become two feet deep, leaving sufficient room 

 between each row, to admit the fresh dung from the stables, 

 cow-houses, and sties. After the manure, thus thrown up, 



Y AR 



has attained a fair heat, turning it over again generally 

 destroys, or at least arrests, the growth of weeds, and renders 

 it fit to be laid upon the land. In Norfolk, the prevailing 

 opinion is, that long dung is best for strong land, and short 

 for light soils : but the general practice is, of spreading short 

 in all cases. Many intelligent Essex farmers use long dung, 



