836 



ItSATlS 



1 SOLO MA 



ISATIS (meuTiiniS:obscure). Crucifera'. This includes 

 the Dyer's Woad, /. tinctoria, formerly cult, for a blue 

 dye, but no lont;;er advertised. Caasar relates that th'; 



1184. Isoloma Tydaea (X H). 



ancient Britons used the Woad for staining their bodies, 

 and the word Britain itself comes from an old Celtic 

 word Tneaning painted. Before indigo became common 

 in Europe, the Dyer's Woad prodiiced the chief blue 

 coloring matter for woolen cloth. The introduction of 

 indigo in the seventeenth century destroyed this ini 

 portant industry, not without opposition. Dioscorides 

 and Pliny mention both the Dyer's Woad and indigo. 



/. tinctoria, Linn., is rather tall, glabrous and glau- 

 cous: stem-lvs. lanceolate, entire, sessile, somewhat ar- 

 row-shaped: fts. small, yellow, borne in early summer, 

 on panicled racemes. Instead of apod, opening length- 

 wise by valves, it has a closed fruit like on the samara 

 of an ash, 1-celled, 1-seeded. indehiscent, wing-like. It 

 is a biennial, and common in Europe. 



ISCHARUM. See Biamm. 



ISM:fiNE. Now referred to Jli/ineitocallis. 



ISNARDIA. Includes a few species cf Ludtriijia. 



IS0CHiLUS((;reek,>(7itan;>). Orchi<h\ce<v. A genus 

 of no commercial value. Plants epiphytic, with tall, 

 slender, leafy stems, without pseudobullis, bearing a few 

 small fis. at the summit. Sepals erect, free, keeled ; pet- 

 als similar but plane; labellum like the petals and united 



with them to the base of the column, somewhat sigmoid 

 below tlie mi<ldle: column erect, long, without wings; 

 pollinia 4. About 5 species in Braz., Mex., and W. Ind. 



linearis, R. Br. Slender, 1-lK ft. high, leafy: Ivs. dis- 

 tichous, linear, striate, obtuse, emarginate, l>o in. long: 

 tls. purple, borne in a short, terminal spike. March. 

 Growing on rocks and trees in thick woods, Jamaica, 

 Trinidad, Brazil, etc. B.R. 9:745. L.B.C. 14:1341. 



H. Hasselbeing. 

 IS6LEPIS. See Scirpiis. 



ISOLOMA {equal border). Gesner- 

 acew. Includes Tydft>a. Sixty or more 

 tropical American plants, very closelv 

 allied to Gesneria and Achiraenes. 

 Prom Gesneria distinguished by ab- 

 sence of well-formed tubers and char- 

 acters of capsule and anthers, and the 

 5 lobes of the disk equal; from Achim- 

 enes in the more tubular flowers and 

 lobed disk. The culture is the same 

 as for Achiraenes and Gesneria. Seeds 

 of the newer hybrids germinatequickly, 

 and plants bloom the same year. It is 

 probable that the pure species are not 

 in the trade. Like Achimenes, Ges- 

 neria and Gloxinia, they have been 

 much hybridized and varied. It is 

 probable that they are hybridized with 

 Achimenes and Gesneria. Tydtea is a 

 garden genus. It is not known how 

 the current forms have originated. 

 Some of the recent ones have fringed 

 fis. (Gn. 55:1223). 



Tydaea { Achimenes picta, Benth. Ty- 

 cKm picfa,D(:ne.}. Fig. 1184. One to 2 

 ft., hairy: Ivs. cordate-ovate, coarsely 

 serrate, spotted and reticulated with 

 pale green or silvery green, with a 

 broad light zone down the center: fls. 

 single, on long, axillary stems, nod- 

 djng, the orifice oblique and lobes ob- 

 tuse, the upper longitudinal half of the 

 fi. red, the lower half yellow and red- 

 spotted. Colombia. B.M. 4120 (adapted 

 in Pig. 1184). B.R. 31:42. P.S. 1:17- 

 18. — On this species Decaisne founded 

 the genus Tydtea in 1848. This species 

 has been called Isoloma pictum, but 

 this name was taken by Planchon in 

 1850 to '51 for the Gesneria picta of 

 Hook., which is a very different plant. 

 SeeP.S. 6:58G. B.M.*4431. This latter 

 plant, the tirst Isoloma pictum, is ap- 

 parently not in commerce, 

 amdbile, Mottet {Tydcea amdhilis, Planch. & Lind.l. 

 En^ct, hairy: Ivs. ovate, more or less tapering to tbe 



1185. Isoloma Jaliscanum {'Ky-z). 



petiole, bluntly serrate, purplish on the veins: fi^- 

 hairy, pendent, dark rose dotted with purple, paler inside. 

 Colombia. B.M. 41)!)1). R.H. 1859, p. 25. F.S. 10:1070. 



