DISPORUM 



DIURIS 



1061 



obovate, narrowed to a short beak, salmon-colored. 

 Calif, to Brit. Col. 



lanugindsum, Nichols. Woolly-pubescent: Ivs. oblong- 

 lanceolate, narrowly acuminate: perianth-segms. green- 

 ish, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, spreading, 6-9 lines 

 long, stamens a third shorter; style and narrow ovary 

 glabrous: caps, oblong-ovate, obtusish or with a very 

 short, stout beak, glabrous; cells 1-2-seeded. Ont. to 

 Ga. and Tenn. B.M. 1490. (as Streptopus). 



BB. Style entire. 



trachycarpum, Benth. & Hook. (Prosdrtes trachycdrpa, 

 Wats.). More or less pubescent: st. 1-2 ft. high, fork- 

 ing, with foliage on the upper half: Ivs. ovate to oblong- 

 lanceolate, acute or rarely acuminate, 2-4 in. long: 

 pedicels pilose; perianth-segms. whitish, slightly spread- 

 ing, more narrowly oblanceolate than in D. Menziesii, 

 acute, 6-7 lines long, about as long as the stamens: fr. 

 obtuse, rather deeply lobed, papillose. Neb. to Mani- 

 toba and Ore. and Wash. 



AA. Lvs. mostly cordate-clasping. 



oreganum, Benth. & Hook. (Prosdrtes oregdna, Wats.). 

 More or less woolly-pubescent: Ivs. ovate to oblong- 

 lanceolate, long-acuminate: perianth-segms. spreading, 

 acute, narrowed below, very distinctly net-veined, 5-7 

 lines long, as long as or shorter than the stamens: fr. 

 ovate, acutish, somewhat pubescent. Ore. and Idaho 

 to Brit. Col. 



D. Hodkeri, Nichols. (P. lanuginosa var. Hookeri, Baker). 

 More or less rough-pubescent, with short, usually spreading hairs: 

 Ivs. ovate or sometimes oblong: perianth rather broad at the base: 

 f r. obovate, obtuse, red. Calif. D. Leschenaultianum, D. Don, differs 

 from the others here described by having white fls. India, Ceylon. 

 B.M. 6935. D. pullum, Salisb. Readily told from American forms 

 by its brown or purplish green fls. India, Java, China. B.M. 916. 



WILHELM MILLER. 

 L. H. B.f 



DISSOTIS (of two kinds, referring to the unlike 

 anthers). Melastomdceae. Some 60 or more species of 

 bristly-hairy or villous shrubs, sub-shrubs or herbs of 

 Trop. and S. Afr., some of which may occur sparingly 

 in choice collections of coolhouse andwarmhouse plants: 

 Ivs. opposite, short-stalked, linear, ovate or orbicular, 

 usually entire. 3-5-nerved, more or less strigose above: 

 fls. bracted, about 1 in. or more across, purple or violet, 

 solitary, or capitate or paniculate at the ends of the 

 branches; calyx 4-5-lobed; petals 4 or 5, obovate; 

 stamens 8 or 10, very unequal, the anthers linear- 

 subulate, usually beaked, with 1 pore, the larger set 

 being joined to the filament by a long connective and 

 the other set with much shorter or nearly obsolete con- 

 nective: fr. an included coriaceous caps. 4- or 5-valved 

 at the apex. Apparently none is in the American trade. 

 D. Irvingidna, Hook. f. Annual from upper Guinea, 

 1-3 ft.: Ivs. linear-oblong to lance-oblong, acute, 

 3-nerved: fls. reddish purple, to \ l /i in. across; petals 

 obovate. B.M. 5149. D. incdna, Triana, of Trop. and 

 S. Afr., shrub, 2-3 ft.: Ivs. linear to linear-oblong, 

 obtuse: fls. rose-purple, to 1^6 in. across. B.M. 3790. 

 D. plumbsa, Hook. f. Shrubby, with long and slender 

 shoots which are densely covered with small deep 

 green Ivs.: fls. bright magenta-rose, 1J^ in. across. 

 Trop. Afr. D. Mahonii, Hook. f. Prostrate, the sts. 

 6-8 in. long: Ivs. short-stalked, nearly or quite orbicu- 

 lar: fls. rose-purple, 2 in. across, solitary. Uganda. 

 B.M. 7896. D. modesta, Stapf. Slender: Ivs. oblong, 

 minutely serrulate: fls. few, crowded at ends of 

 branches; petals obovate-elliptic; stamens blue-purple, 

 reddish and yellow; style purple. Uganda. L. H. B. 



DISTICHLIS (Greek, two-ranked}. Gramineae. SALT- 

 GRASS. MARSH SPIKE-GRASS. Rigid erect perennials, 

 with extensively creeping wiry rootstocks: spikelets 

 several-fld., compressed, dioecious; lemmas coriaceous, 

 rigid, faintly many-nerved. Species about 6, in salt 

 marshes on the coastal regions of Amer. and in alkaline 



soil of the interior. One species, D. spicdta, Greene, 

 with stiff, distichous involute blades and small narrow 

 panicles is found in alkaline soil throughout the U. S. 

 (Dept. Agric., Div. Agrost. 20:143). It is a good grass 

 for binding soils subject to wash. Probably not in cult. 



A. S. HITCHCOCK. 



DfSTICTIS (Greek dis, twice and stiktos, dotted; 

 meaning obscure). Bignoniacese. Five or 6 species in 

 Cent, and S. Amer., very similar in fl. to Pithecocten- 

 ium, but caps, smooth, oblong, curved, and branchlets 

 not angular: Ivs. 2- or 3-foliolate, with simple or 3-fid. 

 tendril: fls. large in ample terminal panicles; calyx 

 tubular-campanulate, truncate, often splitting; corolla 

 funnelform-campanulate, leathery, curved; stamens 

 inclosed; ovary with the seeds in many rows. Adapted 

 for cult, in subtropical regions only; treatment and 

 prop, like Bignonia, which see. The following species 

 is cult, in S. Calif. D. cinerea, Greenm. (Pithecocte- 

 nium cinereum, DC.). Tall climber, grayish tomentose 

 throughout: tendrils 3-fid.: Ifts. 2-3, ovate or oval, 

 obtuse and mucronulate or acutish, entire, 1-2 in. long: 

 corolla purple, tomentulose outside, 2-3 Y^ in. long and 

 1/^-23^ in. across at the mouth. Mex. The plant 

 cult, under this name in Calif, is said to have white 

 fls. and may not be the plant described above. 



ALFRED REHDER. 



DISTYLIUM (Greek, dis, twice, stylos, style; in 

 reference to the two slender styles). Hamamelidacese. 

 Ornamental woody plants grown for their handsome 

 evergreen foliage. 



Evergreen trees or shrubs: Ivs. alternate, short- 

 petioled, entire, or dentate, penninerved; stipules 

 deciduous: fls. polygamous or dioecious, apetalous, in 

 axillary racemes, subtended by small bracts; sepals 

 1-5, or wanting; stamens 2-8 with short filaments; 

 pistillate fls. with a superior stellate-tomentose ovary, 

 with 2 slender styles, with several stamens or without 

 stamens: fr. a woody dehiscent caps., 2-celled, with 1 

 seed in each cell. Six species in Japan, China, Him- 

 alayas and Java. Hardy only in warmer temperate 

 regions. Prop, is by seeds and layers. 



racemfisum, Sieb. & Zucc. Tall tree, in cult, usually 

 shrubby: Ivs. elliptic to elliptic-oblong, sometimes 

 obovate, acute or obtusish, narrowed at the base, dark 

 green and lustrous above, paler beneath, glabrous, 

 1^-3 in. long: racemes stellate-pubescent; anthers red: 

 caps, ovoid, 2-pointed, tomentose, J^in. long. March, 

 April. Japan. S.Z. 1:94. S.I.F. 2:25. I.T. 3:113. 

 The staminate fls. are conspicuous by the red color of 

 their anthers. Var. variegatum, Carr. Lvs. bordered 

 with yellowish white. D. chinense, Hemsl. (D. race- 

 mdsum var. chinense, Franch.), a shrub with oblong- 

 obovate Ivs. %-\ l A in. long and usually sparingly 

 toothed above the middle from Cent. China is now pos- 

 sibly also in cult. H.I. 29:2835. ALFRED REHDER. 



DITTANY is an old English word which in England 

 often means Dictamnus albus, a plant of the rue family. 

 The name is supposed to be derived from Mt. Dicte, 

 in Crete, where the ancient dittany grew. The Cretan 

 dittany is supposed to be Origanum Dictamnus, a plant 

 of the mint family, and of the same genus with the wild 

 marjoram. The plant commonly called dittany in the 

 eastern United States is Cunila origanoides, Brit. (C. 

 Mariana, Linn.), another mint, native in dry lands. 

 See Cunila. It has been used as a substitute for tea, 

 and is a gentle aromatic stimulant. All these plants 

 yield an oil used as a mild tonic. 



DIURIS (Greek, double-tailed, alluding to the sepals). 

 Orchidacese. Twenty or more glabrous terrestrial 

 orchids of Austral., rarely seen in collections in cool or 

 warm glasshouses. The Ivs. are at or near the base of 

 the bracted st. (which is usually 1-2 ft. high), few, 

 narrow: fls. 1 to several in a terminal raceme, conspicu- 



