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HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



VIS 



purple flowers are very pleasing. They make 

 the best appearance when sown in masses, 

 which may be done in April and May, to 

 afford a display through the whole of the sum- 

 mer months. Many of the plants of this 

 genus are now included in Lychnis, which 

 see. 



Viscid, Viscous. Clammy ; sticky from a tena- 

 cious coating or secretion. 



Vi'scum. Mistletoe. From viscus, bird-lime; 

 on account of the sticky nature of the ber- 

 ries. Nat. Ord. Loranthacece. 



We copy from Mrs. Loudon's "Gardening 

 for Ladies " a description of V, album : " This 

 curious parasite can hardly be called orna- 

 mental, though it may be sometimes intro- 

 duced with effect to give an air of antiquity 

 to newly-planted pleasure-grounds. It grows 

 best on old cankered Apple Trees, but it may 

 be made to take root on even a young tree, 

 by pressing a berry on a crack in the bark, 

 and then tying oiled paper over it. As, how- 

 ever, the male and female flowers of the 

 Mistletoe are on separate plants, the berries 

 are not always fertile. It is an error to 

 suppose that the Mistletoe grows generally 

 on the Oak, as it is extremely rare on that 

 tree in England. ' Dr. Bull, in a paper in the 

 "Journal of Botany" (ii. 73), mentions only 

 seven authentic instances of the growth of 

 the Mistletoe on the Oak in this country' 

 Dr. Masters. It is found most commonly 

 on the Apple and next on the Hawthorn ; it 

 is also found on the Lime, the Sycamore, the 

 Willow, the Poplar and the Ash, occasionally 

 on the Cherry and sometimes, though rarely, 

 on Pines and Firs. When the seeds begin to 

 grow, they send out first one or two roots, 

 which ascend for a short time and then turn 

 back to the bark, on which they fix them- 

 selves, like the sucker of an insect. The 

 other end afterward detaches itself from the 

 tree and becomes leaves and shoots. The 

 roots of the Mistletoe descend between the 

 bark and the young wood, and no intimate 

 union takes place between the old wood of 

 the parasite and its supporter. The wood of 

 the Mistletoe is of a very fine pale yellowish 

 tinge, and it is as hard and of as fine a grain 

 as box, which it greatly resembles, while that 

 of the thorn is dark brown." The never- 

 lessening demand for the Mistletoe for use at 

 the Christmas Holidays in England has of 

 late years induced nurserymen to begin its 

 cultivation on the Apple, which is now done 

 to an extent that keeps the "boughs" at a 

 reasonable rate. The English steamers often 

 bring over a supply for Christmas in New 

 York, but we have never seen it arrive in per- 

 fection, the berries, the chief attraction of 

 the plant, having mostly dropped off. The 

 American Mistletoe, or False Mistletoe, is 

 Phoradendron flaveacens, common in New Jer- 

 sey, southward and westward, where it has 

 in many instances proved destructive to the 

 forest trees upon which it fastens itself. 

 Though not so ornamental as the English 

 Mistletoe, it is now used in large quantities 

 during the holidays as a substitute lor it. 

 See Phoradendron, page 319. 



Vi'smia. Wax-Tree. Named in honor of M. 

 de Visme, a merchant of Lisbon. Nat. Ord. 

 Hypericacece. 



VIT 



A genus of trees or shrubs, found princi- 

 pally in tropical America, only four of the 

 species being found in western tropical Africa. 

 They have four-sided branches, opposite, often 

 glandular, dotted, entire leaves, and terminal 

 panicles, or cymes of yellow or greenish flow- 

 ers. V. Guianensis, a species found in Guiana, 

 Brazil, Surinam and Mexico, furnishes the 

 rosin known as American Gamboge or Gutta- 

 Gum. 



Vi'snea. Named after a Lisbon merchant named 

 Visne, who was interested in botany. Nat. 

 Ord. Ternstromiacece. 



V. Mocanera, the only recognized species 

 (so named by Linneeus on account of the fruit 

 being supposed by some authors to have been 

 the Mocan, which was made into a kind of 

 syrup and largely employed by the aboriginal 

 inhabitants of the Canary Islands), is a green- 

 house shrub with the habit and inflorescence 

 of Eurya. It was introduced to cultivation in 

 1815, and is propagated by cuttings. 



Vita'ceae. A small natural order, nearly allied 

 to Rhamnacece, differing slightly in their flow- 

 ers, but more in their habits. With the ex- 

 ception of the small genus Leea, they are 

 tall climbers, remarkable for the anomalous 

 structure of their wood. Besides the great 

 genus Vitis, this order includes Cissus, Ampe- 

 lopsis, Pterisanthes and Leea. 



Vitellinus. Dull yellow, just turning to red; 

 the color of the yolk of an egg. 



Vi'tex. From vieo, to bind ; in allusion to the 

 flexible branches. Nat. Ord. Verbenacece. 



A genus of about sixty species of woody 

 plants, mostly tropical, a few reaching as far 

 north as the Mediterranean. The plants of 

 this genus are very aromatic, and the leaves 

 and bark of some of the species are used 

 medicinally in India. V. Agnus-caslus, Chaste- 

 tree, with long, petiolate, divided leaves and 

 pale lilac flowers, is perhaps the best known 

 species, having been in cultivation since 1670. 

 It is hardy in the Southern States. V. tri- 

 foliata, the Indian Wild Pepper, introduced 

 from India in 1739, is also in cultivation. 

 They are easily increased by cuttings. 



Vi'tis. Vine. From the Celtic gwid, pro- 

 nounced vid; signifying the best of trees. 

 Wine is derived from the Celtic word gwin. 

 Nat. Ord. Vitacece. 



A large genus comprising over two hundred 

 species of climbing plants, of which the well- 

 known Grape-vine is the most important rep- 

 resentative. It has a wide geographical 

 range, but is principally found in the north- 

 ern hemisphere, the majority of its species 

 being natives of tropical and temperate Asia 

 to as far north as Japan and North America. 

 " The Grape-vine, V. vinifera, is a native of 

 the southern shores of the Caspian Sea and 

 Armenia. Associated with the Fig, it follows 

 the shores of the Black Sea as far as the 

 Crimea. Alphonse de Candolle states that it 

 grows spontaneously throughout the lower 

 region of the Caucasus ; in the north, but 

 more especially in the southern parts of that 

 chain; in Armenia, and on the southern 

 shores of the Caspian Sea, and he adds : 

 ' There can be no doubt from historical tes- 

 timony and that of botanists that this was 

 the original country of the Vine. But no spe- 

 cies of Vitis is wild in Europe.' " Treasury of 

 Botany. 



