D I O 



D I R 



comers is a cell (coeculus), containing one ed, four-cleft: divisions roundish, rolled back: 

 smooth, shining, oblong, black seed: these the stamina consist of eight filaments, very short, 

 seed-vessels abound with resin, which afford a inserted into the receptacle: anthers double, long, 

 grateful scent, as Joes also the whole plant. sharp : the interior shorter : the pistillum a rudi- 



The third is a plan: of humbler growth, sel- ment of a germ. 

 dom above three feet high, and spreads out into The species cultivated are : 1. D. Lotus, Eu- 

 many branches ; the haves resembling those of ropean Date Plum ; 2. D. Virghnana, Ameri- 

 heath : the flowers are in clusters at the ends of can Date Plum. 



the branches, like those of the second sort, but The first rises with a tree-like stem to the 

 smaller, and the bunches not so large, of a red height of six feet ; the smaller branches spread a 

 colour. little, and are yellowish : the leaves oval-lanceo- 



The fourth is a low bushy shrub, which seldom late, large, quite entire, paler underneath, some- 

 rises above two feet high, but spreads out its what hoary, with the veins somewhat hairy: 

 branches far on every side : the leaves are nar- the flowers are small, reddish-white, rotate : 

 row and smooth, of a light green colour, being the fruit the size of a cherry, yellow when 

 ranged on each side the branches, appear flat on ripe, sweet with astringency. It is a native of 

 the'upper and under side; when they are bruised, Europe. 



they emit a very strong penetrating odour : the The second species rises here to the height of 

 flowers are produced singly from between the from fourteen to sixteen feet, commonly divi- 

 leaves ; are w bite, and tinged on their upper sur- ding into many irregular trunks near the ground : 

 face. The Hottentots are said to use it to scent the wood is very hard, but brittle and somewhat 

 their ointments. white : the branches are many, and grow slen- 



Culfurc. — These plants may be increased by der to the end, covered with a very thin greenish 

 planting the cuttings of the young shoots in the bark: the leaves many, broad, green, without 

 spring or summer months, in pots rilled with good dent or notch on the edges, so like the former, 

 mould, plunging them in a moderate hot-bed. that it seems at first to be the same : it has a 

 When the plants have stricken good root, they dark brown bark on the branches, but on 

 should be carefully taken up and placed out sepa- the twigs it is grayish : the fruit is in form and 

 rately in pots, proper water and shade being bigness like a Date, very firm as that fruit, al- 

 given. They afterwards require to be protected most as sweet, with a great flat thick large 

 in the green-house, and have the management of kernel within. It is a native of Virginia and 

 other shrubby exotic plants of similar growth. Carolina. 



These plants, from the beauty of their bloom Culture. — The method of propagation in these 

 and thelragrant smell that is emitted by many plants is by sowing the seeds in a warm situa- 

 of them, are highly deserving of places in shrub- tion in the open ground in the spring; but it is 

 by collections. better when done in pots or boxes filled with 



DIOSPYROS, a genus affording plants of good earth, and plunged into a moderate hot- 

 the deciduous shrubby flowering exotic kind. bed, as they rise more quickly, and advance with 



It belongs to the class and order Pohj^amla greater rapidity. When the plants have attained 

 Dioecia, and ranks in the natural order of some growth,, they should be gradually exposed 

 Bicornes. to the open afr until the autumn, when those in 



The characters are: that in the hermaphrodite the full ground should be carefully protected 

 female the calyx is a one-leafed, four-cleft from frost by mats or other means, and those in 

 perianthium, large, obtuse, permanent : the co- pots placed under a garden frame on moderate 

 rolla one-petalled, pitcher-ahaped, larger, four- heat ; free air being admitted when the weather 

 cleft; divisions sharp, spreading : the stamina 

 consist of eight filaments, bristle-form, short, 

 almost inserted into the receptacle: anthers 

 oblong, unproductive : the pistillum is a round- 

 ish germ : style single, half four-cleft, per- 

 manent, longer than the stamens : stigmas 



mild. Early in the following spring, they 

 should be removed, and planted out in a warm 

 situation in the nursery at proper distances, to 

 remain two or more years ; when they will be 

 fit to be finally put where they are to remain. 



These plants are proper for the large clumps, 



obtuse, two-cleft: the pericarpium is a globose borders, and other parts of shrubberies, being suf- 



berry, large, eight-celled, sitting on a verv large fieiently hardy when of proper growth to resist the 



spreading calyx: the s>ed solitary, roundish, com- effects of frost; where they have a good effect, 



press., I, and very bard : male in a distinct plant : not only from their flowers, but the shining green 



the .calyx is a one-leafed, four-cleft perianthium, appearance of their leaves, 



sharp, ' upright, small: the corolla one-pc- DIRCA, a genus containing a plant of the 



tailed, pitcher-shaped, leathery, four-corner- low deciduous hardy exotic kind. 



