RHA 



It H A 



referred to the genus Hokus, along with all the panicled 

 fpecies of Andropogon ; and he remarks, on the authority 

 of a fpecimen from the author, in fir J. Banks's collection, 

 that it feems fcarcely diftinft from Andropogon acicularis of 

 Retzius, Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 906, for which indeed the 

 fame fynonym of Rumphius is quoted. 



RHAPIS, fo called by the younger Linnaeus, from 

 f=ra-K, a rod, probably in allufion to the name it has ob- 

 tained from Europeans in China, of Ground Ratan ; but 

 we know not preciiely how that name applies to the plant. — 

 Ait. Hort. Kevv. ed. 1. v. 3. 473. ed. 2. v. 5. 473. Schreb. 

 772. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 1093. Mart. Mill Did. v. 4.— 

 Clafs and order, Polygamia Monoecia ; rather Hexandria 

 Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Falma. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, minute, rigid, of one 

 leaf, in three deep, broad, concave, permanent fegments. 

 Cor. of one petal, larger than the calyx, in three deep, 

 ereft, concave, equal fegments, deciduous. Stam. Fila- 

 ments fix, awl-fhapcd, nearly as long as the corolla; an- 

 thers roundifli, two-lobed. Pi/). Germen iupcrior, three- 

 lobed ; flyle (hort, awl-(haped ; fligma obmfe. Peric. 

 Berry roundifh-ovate. Seed folitary, roundifli, bony. 



Obf. The flowers are often polygamous or dioecious. 



Ed. Ch. Calyx three-cleft. Corolla of one petal, three- 

 cleft. Berry with one large, roundifh, bony feed. 



1. R. jlabelliformis. Creeping-rooted Palmetto, cr 

 Ground Ratan. Ait. n. 1. Willd. n. I. Sm. Tour, 

 v. 1. 12. and 279. Jacq. Hort. Schoenbr. v. 3. 36. t. 316. 

 Curt. Mag. t. 1 37 1 . (Chamx'rops excelfa ; Thunb. Jap. 

 130.) — Leaves palmate, plaited ; their plaits and margins 

 fharply toothed. — Native of China and Japan. Root creep- 

 ing, with numerous long ftraight fibres. Stem riling to a 

 great height in its native country ; in our ftoves it ha? not 

 yet reached above fix or eight feet ; it is clothed with a loofe 

 network, formed of the bafes of the decayed leaf-llalks. 

 Leaves {talked, divided almoit to the bafe into many plaited 

 oblong lobes, a fpan long, rough at the ribs and edges with 

 prickly teeth. Floiuers moftly dioecious, yellow, in pa- 

 nicled cylindrical fpikes. Berry fmall, dark purple, fweet 

 with a bitterifh flavour, barely eatable. 



2. R. acaidis. Swamp Palmetto. Willd. n. 2. Ait. 

 11. 2. (Corypha minor; Jacq. Hort. Vind. v. 3. S. t. S. 

 Sabal Adanfoni ; Gawl. in Curt. Mag. t. 1434. Purfli 

 v. 1. 239.) — Leaves palmate, ftriated, entire, fmooth. — 

 Native of the fea-eoaft of Carolina and Georgia, flowering 

 in Auguft. Of humble growth, having no leafy Jlem. The 

 leaves are longer and narrower than in the foregoing, quite 

 fmooth and entire. Flowers numerous, greenifh-white, in 

 numerous, cylindrical, lax, panicled fpikes, fupported by 

 a ftraight, round common ilalk, taller than the foliage. 

 Berry the fize of a fmall pea, black, fweetifh. Jacq. 



3. R. arundinacia. Simple -leaved Palmetto. Ait. n. 3. 

 Willd. n. 3. — Leaves in two deep, acute, plaited lobes ; 

 roughilh. at the edges. — Native of Carolina. A green- 

 houfe plant at Kew, flowering in September. 



The orthography of the generic name in Curt. Mag. 

 1434, is remarkably confufed, and feems to have milled Mr. 

 Purlh to print it Raphis, citing Willdenow without exa- 

 mination. 



RHAPONTICUM. See Rha. 



Rhaponticum, a medicinal root, in form refembling 

 rhubarb, and nearly of the fame virtues. 



It was called rhaponticum, q. d. root of Pontus ; becaufe 

 chiefly produced in the country of Pontus in Afia. 



It is the root of a plant, which is a fpecies of the rheum, 

 with fmooth roundifli leaves, and fomewhat channelled pe- 

 dicles. It grows wild on the mountain Rhodope in Thrace, 



from whence it was brought into Europe by Alpinus about 

 the year 1610; it btars the hardell winters of this climate. 

 The root of this plant, fays Dr. Lewis, which appears to 

 have been the true rhubarb of the ancients, is confounded 

 by lome with the modern rhubarb, though confiderably dif- 

 ferent from that root in appearance, as well as in quality. 

 The rhapoutic is of a dulky colour on the furface, and of a 

 loofe fpongy texture ; more aftringent than rhubarb, and 

 lefs purgative : in this lail intention, two or three drachm? 

 are required for a dofe. Lewis's Mat. Med. 



It has, however, been much controverted, whether the 

 rhaponticum of the ancients, and the rhubarb of the mo- 

 derns, be one and the lame plant : the reafoning on both 

 n in the appendix to the fecond volume of 

 John Bauhin's Hiftorv of Plants. See Rhubakb. 



RHAPPHA, in Ancient Geography, a town of India, 

 0:1 the other fide of the Ganges, among the people called 

 Gangani. Ptolemy. 



RHAPSA, a town of Afia, in the interior of Media. 



RHAPSODI, 'Pc.Avdoi, Rhapsodists, in Antiquity, 

 perfons who made a bu-finefs of finging or reciting pieces of 

 Homer's poems. 



Cuper informs us, that the rhapfodi were clothed in red, 

 when they fuiig the Iliad ; and in blue, when they lung the 

 Odyfley. 



They performed on the theatres ; and fometimes flrove 

 for prizes, in cor.tefts of poetry, finging, &c. 



After the two antagonifts had finifhed their parts, the 

 two pieces, or papers they were written in, were joined to- 

 gether again ; whence the name, was. from p<*ttc, fuo, I join 

 together, and bou, ode, fong. 



But there feem to have been other rhapfodi of higher an- 

 tiquity than thefe ; people who compofed heroic poems, or 

 fongs in praife of heroes and great men, and fung their own 

 compoiitions from town to town, for a livelihood ; of which 

 profeflion, it is faid, was Homer himfelf. 



Hence, fome critics, initead of the former origin, derive 

 the word rhapfodift from pa£X a8«v, to fing with a laurel- 

 rod in the hand, which, it feems, was the badge of the pri- 

 mitive rhaplodi. 



Philochorus, again, derives the word from fx^i-nv -m: 1 

 q. d. ovmQtmt, to compofe fongs or poems ; as if they were the 

 authors of the poems they fung. This opinion, to which 

 Scaliger inclines, reduces thefe rhapfodi to the fecond 

 kind. 



In effeft, it is probable, that they were all of the fame 

 clafs, whatever diftindlion fome authors may imagine among 

 them ; and that their bufinefs was to fing or rehearfe poems, 

 either of their own, or other people's compofition, as might 

 beft ferve their purpofe, which was gaining a pecuniary ad- 

 vantage by them. So that we do not apprehend it any in- 

 jury to them, to fet them on the foot of our ballad-fingers ; 

 fome of whom may probably pen their own ditties. After 

 Homer's time, it is no wonder they confined themfelves 

 altogether to his pieces, for which the people had the ut- 

 moft veneration ; nor is it furprifing, that they fhould erect 

 ftages, Sec. and difpute the point of recitation in fairs and 

 markets. 



The import of the word rhapfodift underwent feveral 

 changes in antiquity : it was firll appropriated to bards, 

 who fung their own verfes from town to town, or at the 

 tables of the great ; in this fenfe Homer was called a rhap- 

 fodift. It was next bellowed on thofc who fung the verfes 

 of Homer on the flag?, ufually for a prize, allotted to the 

 beft performer of them ; and, iaifly, to fuch fingers of 

 centos, as have been jult defenbed. A rhapfody, in mo- 

 dern language, conveys no other meaning than that of an 



incoherent 



