276 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



NIG 



tings put in during the winter in the green- 

 house, will make fine plants for planting 

 out in spring. 



Nige'lla. Love-in-a-Mist, or Devil-in-the-Bush. 

 From niger, black; the color of the seeds. 

 Nat. Ord. Ranunculacece. 



Annual plants, with showy flowers, which 

 are, however, almost hidden by their leafy 

 involucres. N. Hispanica is the handsomest 

 species. They only require sowing in March 

 or April in the open border ; or they may be 

 sown in autumn, as they will stand the winter 

 without protection, and will thus be ready to 

 flower early in the summer. They are mostly 

 natives of the south of Europe, and have long 

 been in cultivation. 



Niger. Black, or black a little tinged with gray. 



Night Blooming Cereus. See Cereus. 



Night Blooming Jasmine. See Cestrum. 



Night Flower. A name given to Nyctanthes 

 arbor-tristis. 



Night Scented Stock. A common name applied 

 to Hesperis tristis, Matthiola tristis, M. odora- 

 tissima, etc. 



Nightshade. See Solanum. 

 Night Shade. Deadly. Atropa Belladonna. 

 Night Shade. Enchanter's. See Circcea. 

 Nigrescens, Nigricans. Blackish. 



Nimble Will or Drop Seed. A popular name 

 for the grass Muhlenbergia diffusa. 



Ni'pa. The name of the tree in the Moluccas. 

 Nat. Ord. Palmacece. 



N. fructicans, the only representative of the 

 genus, is an ornamental, unarmed, palm-like 

 plant, with a creeping, furcated trunk, feathery 

 leaves, and large round bunches of fruits. Dr. 

 Seemanri, in the " Treasury of Botany," says : 

 " It is commonly met with in the salt marshes 

 of the coasts and islands of the Indian seas, 

 and is generally classed with Pandanacece, or 

 Palmacece, but does not quite agree with either 

 of these natural orders. A similar plant 

 abounds in the tertiary formations at the 

 mouth of the Thames, where its fruit must at 

 one time have floated about in as great pro- 

 fusion as those of N.fruticans do at the pres- 

 ent day in Indian rivers. It is rather diffi- 

 cult to grow and is found to succeed best with 

 the pot partially submerged in water ; it was 

 introduced to cultivation in 1822. 



Niphae'a. From niphos, snow; in allusion to 

 its pure white flowers. Nat. Ord. Gesneracece. 

 A small genus of green-house herbaceous 

 perennials, with pure white flowers. The 

 genus is allied to Achimenes ; it requires the 

 same treatment, and is increased in the same 

 manner. Introduced from New Grenada and 

 Guatemala in 1841. 



Nipho'bolus. From niphobolos, covered with 

 snow ; referring to the white covering of the 

 spore cases. Nat. Ord. Polypodiacece. 



A genus of Ferns found in the East Indies, 

 Australia, and Africa. They were separated 

 from Polypodium, to which they bear a close 

 resemblance. Some of the species are very 

 beautiful, and well adapted for the Fern-case. 

 They are increased by division or by spores. 



Ni'tidus. Having an even, smooth, polished 

 surface, as many seeds. 



NOP 



Nitra'ria. From nitrum, nitre ; first found by 

 Schreber near the nitre works in Siberia. Nat. 

 Ord. Malpighiacece. 



Low shrubs with white flowers, which are 

 very hardy, and will grow well in situations 

 exposed to the sea. In gardens, the ground 

 in which they grow should be occasionally 

 watered with water in which saltpetre has 

 been dissolved. 



Niva'lis. Growing near snow, or appearing at 

 a season when snow is on the ground, 



Niveus. Snow-white ; the purest white. 



Node. That part or point in a stem from which 

 a leaf, whether complete or incomplete, 

 arises. 



Nodose. Nodulose. Knotted; having many 

 nodes or knots. 



No-Eye Pea. Of the West Indies. See Ca- 

 janus. 



Noise'ttia. Named after L. C. Noisette, a 

 French nurseryman, author of " Le Jardin 

 Frutier." Nat. Ord. Violacece. 



N. longifolia, the only cultivated species, is 

 a green-house evergreen shrub, introduced 

 from Cayenne in 1824. The flowers are cream 

 color, produced in large clusters. Propa- 

 gated by cuttings. 



Nola'na. From nola, a little bell ; the form of 

 the flowers. Nat. Ord. Convolvulacece. 



Trailing annual plants, with pretty blue 

 flowers, that only require sowing in early 

 spring in the open border. N. atriplicifolia, 

 the handsomest species, strongly resembles 

 Convolvulus minor. They are natives of Chili 

 and Peru, and were introduced in 1825. 



Nolana'ceae. A natural order now included 

 under Convolvulacece. 



Noli'na. Named after P. C. Nolin, a French 

 botanist of the last century. Nat. Ord. Lilia- 

 cecB. 



A genus of about a dozen species, natives of 

 Mexico and the southern United States. N. 

 Georgiana (Georgian) is a showy plant, with a 

 very large tunicated bulb, and numerous 

 small white flowers crowded in long bracted 

 racemes borne on scapes two to three feet 

 high. It is found on dry sand hills in the 

 middle districts of Georgia and South Caro- 

 lina, and flowers in April and May. This 

 genus is now included by Mr. Baker under 

 Beaucarnea. 



None-so-Pretty. Saxifraga umbroaa. 



No'nnea. Named after J. P. Nonne, of Erfurt, 

 a German writer on botany, 1729-1772. Nat. 

 Ord. Boraginacece. 



A rather large genus of hardy or half-hardy 

 plants of little interest, except in botanical 

 collections. 



Noon-Flower, or Noon-tide. Tragopogon pra- 

 tensis. 



Nopa'lea. From Nopal, the Mexican name for 

 a Cactus. Nat. Ord. Cactacece,. 



A small genus of fleshy shrubby plants, 

 closely allied to Opuntia, from which they 

 differ in having erect and conivent, not ex- 

 expanding, petals, and the stamens being 

 shorter than the style, but longer than the 

 corolla. N. coccinellifera, largely cultivated 

 in Mexico and the West Indies, as food for 

 the cochineal insects, is better known as 



