HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS. 



185 



KAG 



and pistils in another. R. Arnoldi was found 

 in the Island of Sumatra about sixty years ago, 

 and was then, as it is now, considered to be one 

 of the greatest wonders of the Vegetable King- 

 dom. It consists of five fleshy lobes or petals, 

 each three feet across, of a spotted or mottled 

 red color, the center forming a cup-like dish 

 capable of holding six quarts of water. It has 

 the offensive odor of some species of Fungi, and 

 was first supposed to belong to that order from 

 this fact, and its general resemblance to the 

 Fungus class. 



Ragged Robin. Lychnis flos-cuadi. 



Ragged Sailor. See Polyrjoniim. 



Kagweed. See Ambrosia trijida. 



Ragwort. See Othonna and Senecio Jacobcea. 



Ramee or Ramie. See Bohmeria. 



Ramondia. Named after L. Raymond, a French 

 botanist. Linn. Pentandria-Monoyynia. Nat. 

 Ord. Gesneracece. 



R. Pyrenaica, the only known species, is a very 

 pretty little perennial, growing only three to 

 four inches high, with the flower stalks spring- 

 ing from a dense mass of rough, dark green 

 leaves. The general habit of growth of the 

 plant very much resembles that of a Primrose. 

 It is quite hardy, and admirably adapted for 

 rock-work; but it will grow in the border, where 

 it is not too warm and dry. It begins to flower 

 in May, and continues in bloom nearly the 

 whole summer. It is a native of the Pyrenees, 

 whence it was introduced about 1600. Parkin- 

 son describes it as the "Blew Beares Eares 

 with Borage leaves." The flowers, however, are 

 not blue, but pale lilac. Propagated by root 

 division or from seed. 



Samstead. One of the common names of Lina- 

 ria. 



Randia. Named after J. Rand, a London botan- 

 ist. Linn. Pentandria-Monorjynia. Nat. Ord. 

 Cinchonacece. 



A small genus of green-house evergreen 

 shrubs, natives of the East Indies, and allied to 

 Gardenia. They are rarely grown as flowering 

 or ornamental plants. The powdered root of 

 some of the species is sold as Indian Cockle, and 

 is used to intoxicate or stupefy fish, which per- 

 mits their easy capture. 



Ranunculus. Crowfoot. From rana, a frog; 

 many of the species inhabit marshy places fre- 

 quented by frogs. Linn. Polyandria-Potygynia. 

 Nat. Ord. Ranuncvlacece. 



The species may be divided into two kinds: 

 border flowers and florists' flowers. The latter 

 consist of some hundred of the varieties ob- 

 tained from the species Ranunculus Asiaticus, a 

 native of the Levant, with tuberous roots, which 

 is rather too tender to endure the winter in the 

 open air without some kind of protection. The 

 wild plant grows naturally in Persia, in mead- 

 ows which are moist during winter and in the 

 growing season, but dry during a great part 

 of summer. The usual season for planting the 

 Ranunculus is November. The roots may be 

 placed about six inches apart each way, covered 

 with two inches of soil, and protected by straw, 

 mats, or rotten tan, during severe frosts. The 

 plants will come into flower in June, and when 

 the leaves wither, the roots may be taken up, 

 dried in the shade, and preserved in a dry 

 place till they are wanted for replanting. As the 

 plant seeds freely, even when semi-double, new 

 sorts without end may be raised from seed, 

 which may be sown in pots or flat pans as soon as 

 it is gathered, and placed in a cold frame. The 



RAP 



tubers, if kept dry, will retain their vitality for 

 two or three years; and hence, if roots which 

 should be planted in November are kept out of 

 the ground till the November following, and 

 then planted in pots and protected from frost, 

 and when they appear above ground put into 

 green-house heat, they will flower at Christmas. 

 If not planted till December, they will flower 

 about the end of January ; and if not planted till 

 January, they will flower in March. In this 

 way, by always having a stock of old roots, and 

 planting some every month in the year, Ranun- 

 culuses may be had in flower all the year round. 

 The common mode of propagating the Ranuncu- 

 lus is by separating the offsets from the larger 

 roots. Several of the species are weeds with us, 

 and common in moist pastures, having been in- 

 troduced from Europe at an early day. They have 

 become extensively naturalized, so much so as 

 to be a nuisance to farmers in some places. 

 They are popularly known as Buttercups. R. 

 bulbosus, a double-flowering species, would be 

 regarded an acquisition to the flower garden if 

 it were half as difficult to get as it is to be got 

 rid of when once established. 



Rape. See Brassica. 



Raphanus. Radish. From ra, quickly, and 

 phainomai, to appear; alluding to the quick ger- 

 mination of the seeds. Linn. Tetradynamia. 

 Nat. Ord. Brassicacece. 



A. very useful and widely grown genus of 

 plants, including the well-known Radish of the 

 garden. For culture, etc., see Radish. 



Raphia. From the native name of the Madagas- 

 car species. Linn. Monaecia-Hexandria. Nat. 

 Ord. Palmacece. 



The species forming this genus of Palms are 

 confined to three very limited but widely separat- 

 ed localities : one, R. tcvdigera, being found only 

 on the banks of the Lower Amazon and Para 

 Rivers in Brazil; another, R. vinifera, on the 

 west coast of Africa; while the third, R. Ruffia, 

 is only known as a cultivated plant in Madagas- 

 car and the neighboring islands. All three in- 

 habit low, swampy lands in the vicinity of the 

 sea or river banks, within the influence of the 

 tides. They have stout, unarmed, ringed trunks 

 of no great height, and bear gigantic pinnate, 

 spiny leaves, often fifty or more feet in length, 

 and erect, so that the entire trees are sometimes 

 sixty or seventy feet high. The flower spikes 

 are also of large size and much branched, hang- 

 ing down from among the leaves, and measur- 

 ing as much as sixty feet in length, the branches 

 being arranged in two opposite rows, and the ul- 

 timate ones bearing the flowers resembling flat- 

 tened catkins. Both sexes are borne on the 

 same spike. The fruit spikes sometimes weigh 

 as much as two or three hundred pounds, and 

 bear n large number of one-seeded fruits rather 

 larger than eggs, covered with shining, bony, 

 overlapping scales. These Palms furnish ma- 

 terial fora great variety of useful purposes, such 

 as the manufacture of baskets, boxes, mats, rope, 

 bags, etc., besides thatch for houses and other 

 uses. While one (R. vinifera) produces Palm wine 

 in abundance, another (R. Ritffia) has furnished 

 the gardener with his best tying material. This 

 species was introduced from Madagascar into 

 England as long ago as 1820, but it has only been 

 within the past ten years that its great value as 

 a fiber-producing plant has been known outside 

 of its native home. Raffia, as a tying material 

 for plants, either in the green-hoxise or the gar- 

 den, supersedes Cuba bast and Russia matting 



