R E L 



R E L 



Slam., HI liic perfect llorets, tilaments five, very fliort ; an- 

 thers combined into ;i tube. PiJ?. in the pcrfeft florets, 

 germeii obloHg ; ilyle fimple ; lligmas two, reflcxed : in 

 the female ones, germen oblong, rather incurved ; flyle 

 iimple ; ftigmas two, recui'vcd. Perk, none, except the 

 permanent unchanged calyx. Seeds, to all the florets alike, 

 folitary, angular, with a membranous, many-cleft, (hort 

 crown. Recept. chaffy. 



EfT. Ch. .Receptacle chaffy. Seed-crown membranous, 

 fliort, cylindrical. Calyx imbricated, chaffy. Florets of 

 the radius numerous. 



M. I'Heritier diftinguifhes this genus from Athannfia by 

 the prefence of a radius ; from Ofmites by the florets of that 

 radius producing perfeft feeds ; and from Ley/era by the 

 want of a feathery feed-down. Gsertner remarks that his 

 Eclopes, adopted from fir Jofeph Banks's and Dr. So- 

 lander's papers, is nothing more than an Athanajia, fur- 

 niflied with a radius. A due attention to the fyngenefious 

 dafs foon teaches us to miilrufl this charafter, which is un- 

 ftable, even in fevcral fpccies of that clafs ; witnefs the 

 genera Coreopfis and Bidens. Still lefs is the fertility or 

 barrennefs of the radiant florets capable of diftinguilliing 

 natural genera, though Linnaiiis has, unadvifedly, founded 

 a diftinftion of orders, in the clafs in queftion, upon thofe 

 differences. We cannot but affent, therefore, to the opinion 

 of Poiret, that the genus of Relhania is not naturally dif- 

 tindl from the Linnxan Ofmites, at leail, which lad name 

 being already eftabliflied, ought to have been retained. 

 However ftriking the radiating, chaffy, (hining inner fcales 

 of the calyx may be in a few fpecies of Ofmites ; approaches 

 towards that charafter are found in the Rdhanics, as genijli- 

 fol'ia, and ftill more in pa'cacea. We are far from intending 

 to do away the claims of our friend, Mr. Relhan, to bo- 

 tanical commemoration, even were that honour beitowed in 

 general far lefs indifcriminateiy than it is. For the prefent, 

 the Relhania of L'Hcritier is received; and if that be at 

 any time abolilhed, there ought to be one eflablifhed on 

 more folid principles. 



Willdenow has nineteen fpecies of this fuppofed genus ; 

 all natives of the Cape of Good Hope, moftly of a fnrubby 

 Ijtifliy habit, green-houfe plants in England, where only 

 one of them indeed appears to be cultivated. Their flowers 

 are moftly corymbofe, fmall, of a dull yellow, not remark- 

 able for beauty. We feleft a few examples. 



R. fquarrofa. Hook-leaved Relhania. Willd. n. i. 

 Ait. n. I. (Athanafia fquarrofa; Linn. Sp. PI. 1180. 

 Amoen. Acad. v. 6. 98. Santolina fquarrofa ; Linn. Am. 

 Acad. v. 4. 329.) — Leaves elliptical, pointed; recurved 

 at the point. — Sent to Kew by Mr. Mailbn, in 1794. It 

 flowers in the green-houfc in May and June. The whole 

 Jhrul is fmooth, much branched. Leaves numerous, fome- 

 ' what imbricated, about a quarter of an inch long, elliptical, 

 obfcurely fingle-ribbed beneath, entire, acute ; Itrongly re- 

 curved, fmooth, finely dotted on both fides. Flotvers foli- 

 tary, on flender axillary ftalks, thrice the length of the 

 leaves. Calyx about half an inch long, very fmooth, rather 

 ihining. This fliould feem a different plant from R. 

 fquarrofa of Thunberg, who defines his " with terminal 

 umbels," and has thus led Willdenow, contrary to the de- 

 fcription of Linnsus, to refer the fpecies in queft;ion to the 

 firft feclion of the genus, " with aggregate flo-zvers." It 

 appears, by fpecimens in the Linnsan herbarium, that the 

 fiowers are fometimes fo crowded about the ends of the 

 branches, as to affume a corymbofe appearance, though 

 each ilalk is really axillary. Such a fpecimen probably was 

 defcribed by Thunberg. 



R. genijlifolia. Broom-leaved Relhania. Willd. n. 2. 



(Atliaiiafia gcniftifolia ; Linn. Syft. Nat, cd. 12. v. 2. 3-40. 

 Mant. 464.) — Leaves obovato-lanteolate, pointed, fingk- 

 ribbed beneath, entire, fmooth, fomewhat imbricated. 

 Flowers terminal, umbellate. — A bufliy _/^n/^, very much 

 branched. Leaves a quarter of an inch, or hardly fo much, 

 in length, numerous, crowded, dotted, entire, fmooth? 

 the lower ones obovate, and fmalleft ; the upper more 

 lanceolate and elongated ; all bluntifli, with a minute, often 

 liooked, point, and fingle-ribbed at the back only. Flaiuers 

 fmaller than the preceding, from five to eight together, in 

 little terminal umbels. Calyx fhining. 



R. vifcofi. Glutinous Relhania. L'Herit. Sert. 2^. 

 Willd. n. 5. (Eclopes vifcida ; Gaertn. v. 2. 440. t. 169.) 

 — Leaves linear-lanceolate, pointed, vifcid, obfcurely fingle- 

 ribbed beneath, rather flefliy ; the upper ones fomewfiat 

 crenate. — The Jloivcrs are much like the laft-mentioned ; 

 but the leaz'fs are twice as large, more elongated in fhapc, 

 more flightly ribbed, the edges of the upper ones rough or 

 crenate, and all of them extremely glutinous When 

 bruifed, the dried leaves are found to retain a powerful aro- 

 matic fcent, approaching to that of orange-peel. 



R. pedurteulata. I>ong-ftalked Dwarf Relhania. L'Herit, 

 Sert, Angl. 23. 'Willd. n. 7. (R. pumila; Thunb. Prodr, 

 146. Athanaha pumila ; Linn. Suppl. 362. Zoegca ca- 

 penfis ; ibid. 382.) — Leaves linear, villous, and glandular. 

 .Stem diffufe. Flower-italks axillary, much longer than the 



leaves A fmall herbaceous annual fpecies, whofe root is 



furnifhed with numerous capillary fibres. Stem a fpan high, 

 branched from the bafe, round, purplifh, fpreading ; glan- 

 dular and flightly cottony in the upper part, as well as the 

 leaves ; which are about an inch long, very narrow, fome- 

 what triangular. Floivers fmall, yellow, on long, fl;outifli, 

 downy, axillary ftalks, about the fummits of the branches. 

 This occurs twice 111 the Supplementum, having, in one in- 

 ftance, been delcribed by Linnieus himfelf, from a wild 

 fpecimen, and in the other, adopted by his fon, unfeen, 

 from Thunberg's communications. 



K. paleaeea. Chaffy-flowered Relhania. L'Herit. Sert. 

 Angl, 24. Willd, n. 11. Thunb. Prodr. 146. (Leyfera 

 paleacea ; Linn. Syft. Veg. ed. 13. 641. L. ericoides ; 

 Berg. Cap, 294, Eclopes ; Lamarck f , 2 ? Afterophorus 

 frnticofus luteus, foliis rorifmarini crtbris, ovariis hirfutis ; 

 Vaill. Aft. German edition, 585.) — Leaves linear, trian- 

 gular, channelled, hoary ; recurved at the point. Flowers 

 terminal, folitary, feffilc. Calyx turbinate. — Communi- 

 cated by Van Royen to Linnaeus, and by Sherard, as it 

 appears, to Vaillant. The flem is flirubby, a fpan high, 

 branched. Leaves numerous, about an inch long, narrow, 

 clothed, as well as the young branches, with fine hoary 

 down. Calyx ovate, fmooth, a quarter of an inch in dia- 

 meter ; its inner fcales much elongated, lanceolate, acute, 

 and membranous, refembling the fcales of the receptacle, 

 which ftand prominent and ereft, above the florets of the 

 di(k. This plant has fo much of the external afpeft of Ley- 

 fera gnaphalodes, that we can hardly wonder at Linnzus, for 

 having referred it, by the habit alone, to the fame genus. 

 Upon a careful examination, hov.'ever, the charafters, and 

 even the appearance, of the parts of fruftification, .ire 

 abundantly different in the two plants. 



Moft of the other fpecies of Relhania, in Willdenow, are 

 adopted from the fliort fpeciSc definitions of Thunberg and 

 L'Heritier ; nor have we been able to determine them all 

 with certainty. It is remarkable that no figure of any has 

 appeared, except in Gsrtner and Lamarck, nor is the latter 

 very happy or difcriminative, in what he has exhibited of 

 this genus, called by him, after Gaertner, Eclopes. 



RELICS, IiEllQUi.«, in the Romi/h Church, certain 



12 renaains 



